Stone Cold Silence
by OxOx-Megz-OxOx
Summary: She knew from the moment she met him, that he was going to be a difficult patient. She had no idea. Klaroline AU!
1. Chapter One: Something New

**Title: Stone Cold Silence**

**Rating: T (just in case)**

**Pairing: Klaroline (Caroline Forbes x Klaus Mikaelson)**

**Summary: She knew from the moment she met him that he was going to be a difficult patient. She had no idea.**

**[Caroline is a new councillor at Mystic Falls Psychiatric Hospital. Klaus is her new patient. There's something about him that she just can't place, if only she could get him to talk. She knows he's hiding something. That there's something more to his story. Because people don't just wake up with mental problems. At least, not people like him. Something leads them there. And Caroline wants to know what it is.]**

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**Hey guys!**

**So this is an idea I've had for a while, but it took a long time to actually get it started. I was waiting until I finished writing another Klaroline fic of mine, but now that one only has one chapter left, so I thought it was about time that I started something new. I think I got the idea for this from a Merlin fic, but it is in no way the same. The thing that's the same is that it's in a mental institute.**

**Just in case any of you didn't know, here are the illnesses that the patients have, and the symptoms of them:**

**Vicki - BBD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder): Where a person is concerned with body image, and causes distress, or effects social functioning. The symptoms that Vicki has/had are obsessive thoughts about body image, depression, delusional thoughts, social phobia, panic attacks, anxiety, low self-esteem, self-consciousness, dependent personality, alcohol and drug addiction, obsession over removal of mirrors, obsessive dieting and exercising, and self-harm.**

**Rose - Delusional Parasitosis: Where the person has a strong delusion or belief that they are infested with parasites.  
- Schizophrenia: Basically a breakdown of thought processes and emotional responses. The symptoms that Rose has are that she hears voices, has disorganized thinking or speech, loses her train of thought, social withdrawal, no motivation, and lack of response.**

**Anna - ICD (Impulse Control Disorder): Where the person has an uncontrollable impulse to hurt others, or themselves.**

**Jeremy - PPD (Paranoid Personality Disorder): Where the person is constantly paranoid, and has a long-standing suspiciousness of people. The symptoms that Jeremy has are that he finds it hard to trust people, he's hypersensitive, and he constantly looks for threats of danger.**

**Klaus - PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder): Where a person is suffering, due to a particularly traumatic event in their life. They often relive this event, and have flashbacks about it.  
- Schizophrenia: The same as Rose.**

**I hope you like it, and please let me know what you think!**

**Enjoy!**

**Megz**

**oxox**

* * *

Caroline Forbes walked up to Mystic Falls Psychiatric Hospital, pulling her jacket around her to try and preserve _some _body heat. The building before her looked _very _different from the photographs. It was a lot . . . colder, and darker. It was grey, and incredibly over-bearing. The windows were dark, and tinted, and sent a chill down Caroline's spine. The idea that someone could be watching her, without her even being aware of it . . . She shook it off. She was going to have to get over things like that, if she wanted to even survive a _week _here. Still, she'd had no idea that the building itself would be quite so . . . bleak.

Her interview for the job had been on the phone, apparently it had been more convenient at the time. She'd spoken to a woman called Meredith, who was very warm on the phone. Caroline had hoped that the institute itself would be just as welcoming. It seemed she was wrong.

Meredith had called her a few weeks ago, to tell her she'd gotten the job. Today was her first day, and she only hoped that it would go well. The last patient she'd worked with, well . . . Caroline didn't like to think about it. She knew it wasn't her fault, what'd happened, it was no one's fault. But she couldn't help but think that if she'd taken more notice . . . She shook her head. She'd promised herself she wouldn't think about it anymore. What happened at her last job, had been a terrible accident, nothing more. There was nothing she could've said or done to stop it.

The wind whipped her hair around her face, as she made her way up the cold, stone steps that were just as grey as the rest of the building. The whole institute was just completely drained of colour, and Caroline couldn't help but wonder if the people would be the same. There was just something about it that was just so utterly hopeless, so plain, and lifeless, so full of _despair. _Before then, Caroline had never thought that a building could inflict such powerful emotions. But there was just something about it that she couldn't shake.

She raised a delicately painted nail to the button on the intercom, and waited.

Everything was so . . . _quiet. _A stark contrast, to what was probably going on inside. Caroline knew how these places worked. Although, as a councillor, she wasn't really supposed to be that involved with whatever else happened in the institute, she'd noticed things. Things that other people tried to keep behind closed doors. She'd seen it. People screaming, clawing at the walls, and tearing at their hair. People wielding knives at their helpers, and tossing tables in the air. And then there was her last patient . . . _Mason._

_"Hello, who's there?" _came a voice through the intercom. The voice wasn't at all like Meredith's. It wasn't warm, or friendly. It wasn't welcoming, or optimistic. It was tired, bored, and empty. It held no feeling or emotion. Much like the building itself. Caroline had a feeling that there must be something about this place, that it took away every shred of happiness or hope that a person had left. No wonder most of the patients themselves never got out. Because they saw no point.

"Hi, this is Caroline Forbes." she said, trying to sound a little more optimistic. She wanted to at least try and be positive going in. There was no point if she wasn't going to try.

_"Ah yes, I'll buzz you in Miss Forbes."_

* * *

Caroline had been absolutely right about the patients. Most of them walked around like ghosts, wandering the hallways, heads bowed. About half of them were dressed in their own clothes, which were usually, a little too big for them. The other half wore plain, long hospital gowns. Each one of them that Caroline passed, however, looked like all life had been drained out of them. And she couldn't help but wonder if any of them actually _would _make it out of there one day. She doubted it.

Dr Meredith Fell walked in front of her, leading her through the blank, featureless hallways, full of the blank, featureless patients. Luckily, none of them were the patients that Caroline would be working with. A little voice in the back of her head told her that it was probably because _those _patients were a little too far gone. The ward she was being taken to was an Open Unit. Not quite as much security needed, though the patients were still not allowed access to their own medication. They were the ones that still knew their own mind _most _of the time, and has less chance of lashing out.

Meredith swiped her pass in front of the door, before opening it for Caroline. Instantly, she noticed the difference from the rest of the institute. The Open Unit was painted a warm, calming blue, and instantly, Caroline felt more relaxed. They passed a few doors, which Caroline guessed were the patient's rooms. There didn't seem to be many of them in the Open Unit, and Caroline couldn't decide whether that was good, or a bad thing. She hoped to God it was a good one.

They made their way to what was called the "Recreation Room" (Rec Room for short). There weren't a lot of things in there, but there was enough. A few patients were scattered around the room, and Caroline smiled. They were all sat quite far apart, but they didn't seem to be that bad. Of course, she'd learnt to deal with reckless and unpredictable patients before, but it was a relief to have some of a calmer demeanour.

There were only four patients there in total, although Caroline was sure she'd counted five doors. Maybe she was wrong. There were three girls, and one boy. The first girl, had tangled, mousy brown hair, and bright, quizzical green eyes. Her arms were wrapped around her waist, and she was tapping her left foot nervously. She was also extremely skinny, and was biting her bottom lip. The girl across the room had equally wild, short brown hair, which stuck up in many places. She was trying to smooth it down with the palms of her hands, but it just didn't seem to want to bend to her will. And when she wasn't doing that, her hands tapped an unsteady rhythm on her thigh.

The other girl was sat close to the boy, and they were speaking in hushed whispers. She had long, perfectly brushed black hair, which fell over her eyes ever so slightly. But when she turned her head, Caroline saw a flash of her striking, dark brown irises. She was incredibly pale, but the boy next to her whispered something that sent a light pink blush racing up her neck. The boy looked a few years older than her, with a strong, quite muscular build, and kept running his fingers through his hair, making it stick up on end. He glanced around every so often, and he was tapping his foot constantly.

Meredith pointed over to the skinny girl; "That's Vicki. She's been here a few years now, ever since she turned eighteen. She had severe Body Dysmorphic Disorder. It was mostly caused by abuse from her stepfather. He died when she was fifteen, but after his death, she got addicted to drugs and alcohol. When she came here, she was delusional, and wouldn't even go anywhere _near _a mirror. Her whole body was riddled with scars, and they still haven't quite healed now. She's improved greatly since then. We hope that she might be able to get out one day."

Caroline nodded, as Meredith pointed to the short-haired girl; "Rose. She hasn't been here that long really. She has delusional parasitosis, brought on by severe schizophrenia. She's not that bad most days, quite calm and serene, mostly due to her medication. We can usually tell what's going to set her off, but . . . sometimes we're not so lucky. She never causes any real damage though, but she goes through a lot of pain. None of its real, but sometimes it can take a while before we get some medication that can calm her down."

"That's Anna," Meredith continued, gesturing to the dark-haired girl. "She's only been here a year, but already, we're seeing improvements. When she came here, she had severe Impulse Control Disorder. She'd lash out at anyone that even tried to come near her. She's calmed down somewhat now, but she can still be a little . . . unpredictable at times. Still, her mother hopes she'll be out soon."

"And Jeremy. He arrived around the same time as Anna. He has Paranoid Personality Disorder. He doesn't trust people that easily. Don't worry though, he'll like you, I promise. It just might take a while. He's close with Anna though, they're never apart from each other. He was the first person that was able to get through to her. And it seems that whenever she lashes out, he's the only one that can calm her down."

Caroline nodded, trying to take it all in. No doubt she'd be given files on all of them later though. Meredith looked as if she were about to continue the tour, before she stopped herself, and turned to face the patients.

"Where's Klaus?" she asked them, and all of them turned to look at her. All except Rose, who remained unresponsive.

"He said he wanted to stay in his room today," Vicki replied, before turning to look out of the window.

* * *

"And this is Alaric," Meredith said, as they entered her office. Caroline had now been shown the whole institute, including an office of her own. It was a lot better than she had expected, though she'd been right about how lifeless and dull everything was. Apparently it was to keep the patients neutral, and calm, but Caroline didn't like it. It made her feel . . . odd. "And thus concluding our grand tour."

"Sorry to be such a disappointment. She didn't exactly save the best for last," Alaric added, and Caroline couldn't help but laugh. Alaric grinned widely, and Caroline warmed to him immediately. He was a few years older than her, and wore a simple, deep red shirt. There was light stubble forming on his jawline, and he had perfectly straight, white teeth. He stepped forward, offering a hand for her to shake. "Alaric Saltzman. I used to be the councillor in the Open Unit ward."

"Nice to meet you," Caroline replied, shaking his hand gently. His grip was strong, and firm, but not crushing. Meredith excused herself, and Alaric gestured for Caroline to sit down. It was a little odd, as it was Meredith's office, but Caroline didn't ask any questions. It was none of her business, after all. And Alaric would be leaving soon, so what did it matter?

"I just wanted to brief you on one of your patients, Klaus Mikaelson? Meredith told me you did not have the pleasure of meeting him today, and she thought I was probably the best one to talk to you about him." Alaric stated, sitting behind Meredith's desk, and pulling out a file. He laid it out on the table delicately, and it was surprisingly thin. He opened it carefully, and Caroline resisted the urge to lean forward and look at it herself. "So Klaus was from a particularly rich family, and a big one, at that. But his father was, well . . . difficult. He didn't really stick to the laws that well. When Klaus was seventeen, his mother, Esther, died. Things got a little blurry after that. All of the children went their separate ways, and Klaus ended up here."

"So what . . . I apologize for my phrasing, but what's _wrong _with him?" she asked, her brow creasing.

"He's got mild schizophrenia, and severe PTSD." Alaric replied, and Caroline's eyes widened in surprise.

"PTSD? Isn't that usually associated with traumatic life events? Was he in the war, or-" Caroline began, but Alaric just shook his head.

"No, nothing of the sort. Mr Mikaelson is, um . . . something of a mystery. He's been here for many years now, and yet no one can determine the cause of his PTSD. It doesn't make any sense, but all the symptoms are there. Most people think it's due to the death of his mother, but it can't be proven, as no one knows what circumstances she died under. We try to get him to talk, but . . . he's completely unresponsive most days."

"What other symptoms does he have?"

"He hears voice, his speech is disorganized, he loses his train of thought often, and he has delusions. Sometimes he doesn't come out of his room for days, and he doesn't tend to communicate with many people. He'll occasionally talk to some of the other patients, but not that often. Some days he's completely unresponsive, and others he just doesn't seem to be able to find any motivation to do _anything. _But then there's his bad days. Whatever it was that brought on his PTSD, it's particularly painful for him to relive it. He'll tear at his hair, he'll writhe around on the floor, cry, scream, throw things, you name it."

"If he's so violent, why is he even in the Open Unit?" she asked, suddenly feeling quite scared for her own safety. Mason had been almost as bad, but she'd seemed to be able to get through to him in ways that no one else could. She might not be so lucky with Klaus.

"Because Meredith seems to believe that he's no longer a threat to anyone's safety. I disagree, but she's stubborn. I just hope she's right."

"So do I."

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**Well? It's only the first chapter, but let me know what you thought? REVIEW! :D**


	2. Chapter Two: Klaus

**Hey guys!**

**I'm glad that you're interested in the story so far. I've got the basic plot now, but if you guys have any suggestions, that would be incredibly helpful. I just have a few holes in the plot that need filling. Just so you know, the characters that will be involved in this fic (so far) are;**

**Caroline, Klaus, Tyler, Elena, Bonnie, Matt, Hayley, Stefan, Damon, Shane, Meredith, Rebekah, Elijah, Alaric, Mason, Vicki, Anna and Jeremy.**

**More might be added along the way, but that's it so far. And also, other ships will be involved in this story as well. Obviously, not as greatly as Klaroline, but they will play small parts in it. They'll be;**

**Delena (Damon x Elena), Mabekah (Matt x Rebekah), possible Alaric x Meredith, Anna x Jeremy, and possible Beremy (Bonnie x Jeremy).**

**There also might be a little Kalijah, if I can get Katherine into the story somewhere. But yeah, if you guys have any ideas, pleeeeaaase let me know!**

**Thanks to;**

**ILoveYou1978, Aishani108, Grace5231973, ApekshaStar, and IrishBeauty294.**

**Enjoy!**

**Megz**

**oxox**

* * *

"So how are things going with you and Damon?"

Caroline leaned across the table, wiggling her eyebrows at her friend. It was early on a Wednesday morning, and her and her two friends, Elena Gilbert, and Bonnie Bennett were sat outside the Mystic Grill. Drinks were placed on the table in front of them, and Caroline's delicate nails were clasped around her glass, as she leaned forward in anticipation. She'd always been one for gossip, ever since high school. It was just about the only thing that hadn't changed about her since then.

"They're fine. Great, even," Elena replied, but she didn't seem so sure. Caroline pounced on Elena's doubt with all the energy of a pack of wild dogs, hungry for fresh meat.

"But? I sense there was a but in there. _Spill," _Caroline said, and she could practically _hear _Bonnie roll her eyes.

The three of them had been friends since high school, and had, in fact, attended Mystic Falls High School together. Caroline had been very different back then. But, so had Elena and Bonnie. Caroline had been outgoing, overconfident, and even a little bitchy. She was also incredibly controlling, stubborn, and temperamental. Elena had been almost the complete opposite, though not without faults of her own. She'd been incredibly indecisive especially when it came to Damon and Stefan, the two boys that had long fought over her affections. In the end, she'd chosen Damon, but the choice had not been made without many a heartbreak. Elena was also _way_ too emotional, and was always trying to put blame with others. Bonnie had been the quite one in the group, though she was probably the strongest of all of them, in every conceivable way.

Caroline could sit and think all day about everything that had been wrong in high school, but there were so many things that she loved about her friends, as well. Elena was always very caring, and always thought things through. And when she loved, she loved with all her heart, and never held back. Caroline often wished she could be more like that. And Bonnie was just _so _amazing. She'd lost so many people while they were in high school, yet she never gave up. She always tried to remain positive, and Caroline had to admire that.

After high school, Caroline had left town to study to be a psychiatric councilor. Elena and Bonnie had stayed in Mystic Falls, and a little while later, Caroline had gotten a job offer, miles from Mystic Falls. She'd taken it without a second thought, and that's where she'd met Tyler. He'd been the nephew of one of her patients, Mason. Tyler was the only relative that came to see Mason, so he regularly asked Caroline for updates on how he was doing. And then, his visits became about much more than just updates.

And now they were engaged.

"Nothing, it's just . . . I get the feeling we don't want the same things, you know?" Elena said, and Caroline leant back in her chair, gesturing for Elena to elaborate. "We've been together for years now, and I love him so much. But it's not really . . . going anywhere. I mean, look at you and Tyler. Next year, you're getting married. And Damon and I only moved in together a few years ago. I want to be with him for the rest of my life, but sometimes I have to wonder if he feels the same way."

"I'm sure he does," Bonnie replied, reaching across the table, and patting Elena's hand reassuringly. "But you know what he's like. He's not great with the feelings. You should just talk to him about it, ask him where he really sees your relationship going. If _you _feel like it's time you go to the next level, then you shouldn't have to wait for him to bring it up. Tell him."

"Thanks, Bon." Elena smiled, and her friends smiled back. She shook it off, and turned to Caroline. "So how's Jeremy? Is he okay? It's been a while since I visited him last. I've just been so busy with work and things, I didn't . . . does he want me to come back? Have you seen him yet?"

"He's fine Elena, I promise," Caroline reassured her. Elena nodded slowly. "I didn't even recognize him until Meredith showed me his file. He's so grown up now . . . he's one of my patients, actually. I haven't had chance to talk to him yet, but I will soon. I wouldn't worry though, he's fine, honestly. He's even got a friend in there, her name's Anna."

". . . He never mentioned her before," Elena trailed off. She knew she hadn't been as involved with Jeremy as she could've been, but she'd just had so much to _do. _The last time she'd visited him was about a month ago, and she began to wonder if they were as close as they used to be.

"I'm sure he was just waiting for the right time," Caroline's voice softened, and Bonnie nodded in return. She had dated Jeremy for a while herself, back in high school. But once he'd started getting into drugs and everything, she'd had to break it off. It had been hard for both of them, but especially for Jeremy. He'd hit the drugs harder than ever, and had eventually ended up in the Psychiatric Hospital. All of that had happened after graduation, and Caroline often wished she'd been there to help them. Especially Bonnie and Elena. Apparently it had taken a while to get them to both stop blaming themselves for what happened to Jeremy.

"So what about your other patients?" Bonnie asked, eager to change the subject. It was always painful for her to talk about Jeremy. No matter how hard she tried to suppress them, she still had feelings for him, and it was plain to see. Still, she hadn't been to visit him since he'd been admitted to hospital, and it looked like she was never going to. But despite having not seen him for years, she'd still never been able to move on. She'd never even looked twice at anybody else, and Caroline thought it must hurt to know he wasn't doing the same.

"I haven't met them properly yet, but I've seen them, and been told about them. They seem quite placid, but interesting to say the least. There's one though that I haven't been properly introduced to yet, his name's Klaus Mikaelson. I'm meeting him this afternoon," Caroline replied, and her friend's eyes widened. "What?"

"Mikaelson? _Klaus _Mikaelson?" Bonnie asked, and Caroline nodded slowly, not quite sure what they were talking about. "You remember we told you Matt got a new girlfriend after you left? Rebekah? That's her _brother. _She talks about him sometimes, he was admitted to hospital years ago. She visits him every week, with her other brother, Elijah."

"You're kidding!" Caroline cried, her eyes widening in return.

It had never really occurred to her, in her absence, how much she was missing in Mystic Falls. Elena and Damon had moved in together, Jeremy was in a Psychiatric Hospital, Matt was dating the sister of one of her patients, Damon and Stefan were both in the police force, working with Caroline's mom . . . it seemed like everyone had moved on without her. And when her friends had needed her, she hadn't been there for them.

That's what hurt more than anything else.

* * *

Later that day, Caroline made her way up to her office at the Hospital. She knew that Klaus was already there and waiting, and she couldn't help but feel a little curious. She'd heard little about Klaus, and everyone that she'd asked about him had said the same thing. That he was quiet, mysterious, and very closed off. He wouldn't talk to most people, only people that he felt safe around people he felt he could _trust. _Caroline hoped that she could become one of those people, otherwise, her and Mr Mikaelson were going to have a very difficult relationship.

There was something though, something that people kept leaving out, when they spoke about him. Every time they described him, there was always something that they _didn't _say. The words hung on the tips of their tongue, and Caroline could tell that there was something they were all hiding. There was something about him that they didn't want her to know. And she didn't know whether that made her slightly more curious, or a little afraid.

Still, she knew she shouldn't be worrying about things that she hadn't been told. There was no point. After all, it could be nothing. She could just simply be imagining it.

Her heels clicked, as her office door came into view. She clutched a pristine, red clipboard to her chest as she reached for the door handle. Her name was written on a plaque, right in the middle of the door. She felt an odd urge to knock, but knew how stupid it would seem. It was _her _office. But she felt like she'd be barging in, catching Klaus unawares, and felt like she might need to make him aware that she was entering the room. As if she might be interrupting something.

Shaking her head, she turned the door handle, and entered the room.

There was something about her office, that she liked. It wasn't like any of the others, as it was a space that patients had to feel comfortable. It was a lot bigger, for one, and felt more open. It was painted a nice, calming blue, and it was the only part of the hospital that Caroline didn't actually mind spending time in. Her desk was at one end of the room, surrounded by framed pictures of Caroline, Tyler, and her friends and family. There was a small, budding plant on her desk, and a rather large computer for her to type up some of her files.

There was a smaller table in the middle of the room, with some chairs placed around it, and a sofa in the corner. There was probably a lot more room than was actually needed, but different patients like different things, and the councillor's room had to be somewhere they were comfortable. There were a few bookcases, and filing cabinets tucked away in a small alcove, and across from her desk, was a small, plush green armchair. She'd thought it was a lot better for the patients than the hard, plastic chairs that she'd had in high school.

And currently occupying aforementioned armchair, was Klaus Mikaelson.

Caroline made her way to her desk, trying desperately not to stare.

He just wasn't . . . what she'd expected.

When people had described Klaus to her, she didn't know what she'd expected, but it certainly wasn't the man sitting in front of her. He was, for lack of a better word, beautiful. He had dirty blonde hair, that curled perfectly to frame his face. He had very prominent cheekbones, and striking, clear blue eyes. But it was his lips, that Caroline felt unable to tear her eyes away from. She knew it was completely inappropriate to be thinking of a patient in such a way, but those _lips. _They were so dark, and velvety, she couldn't look away. They were a perfect, cupid's bow shape, and Caroline had never seen anyone so beautiful.

Snapping herself out of her own foolish thoughts, she shuffled some papers on her desk, and leaned forward, clasping her hands in front of her. Klaus made no attempt to begin a conversation, or even acknowledge that she was in the room. Instead, he brought his knees up to his chest in the chair, and looked out of the window, as it began to rain.

"I'm Caroline Forbes, I'm your new councillor. I understand that Alaric was your last councillor?" she asked, as an attempt to begin a conversation. Still, Klaus continued to look out of the window, as the rain began to pour harder and harder. "Is there anything you need to tell me? Anything you think I might not . . . know?"

There was something about his silence that unnerved her a little. She didn't think he was completely unaware of her presence in the room, that much was obvious. He was simply ignoring her, and she didn't know which was worse. He made no attempt to even look at her, but yet, she still felt like she was being observed, tested. Surely it should be the other way around?

"Um . . . have you been here . . . long?" she swallowed, feeling more than a little uncomfortable with the whole interaction. She'd dealt with difficult patients before, she'd dealt with patients who'd smuggled weapons, patients who lashed out upon a whim. But never had she met a patient so adamant to ignore her very presence in the room.

It felt like more than that though. Like he was really doing something far more intelligent, and thought-out, than just ignoring her. He was definitely testing her, but for what, she couldn't be sure. Maybe to see if she could be trusted? Though, how he was going to find that out, without talking to her, she didn't know.

"Is there . . . _nothing _you want to say? Nothing . . . at all?" she tried one more time, but Klaus continued to say nothing. Caroline sighed, pushing her chair back from the desk. She walked over to the filing cabinets in the alcove, searching for Klaus' file. And for some reason, she could feel his eyes on her, _watching, _the whole time. She turned around quickly, to find him staring at her openly, unashamed. And to her utter embarrassment, she found herself _blushing, _of all things.

But the way he stared at her, sent shivers down her spine. And whether they were shivers of fear, or of excitement, Caroline could not be sure. She turned her back to him, before she could embarrass herself further, and continued rooting through the cabinets for his file.

Niklaus Mikaelson was unlike any patient Caroline had ever encountered before, and by God, he was going to be the death of her!

* * *

**Well? Let me know what you thought! REVIEW! :D**


	3. Chapter Three: Entirely Unprofessional

**Hey guys!**

**I know it's been a while, but I'm updating another story at the same time, and I had _major _writer's block on the most recent chapter. And while I was trying to write that, I went camping, so I couldn't carry on writing until I got back. Anyway, the day after I got back, I managed to finish the chapter, although it wasn't that great. I'm here now, anyway, and thanks to;**

**sophbxx, Aaaammber, IrishBeauty294, PainfullyShy, ApekshaStar, and Grace5231973.**

**This chapter was quite hard to get inspiration for as well. I didn't really have much planned for it, and if I wanted to add more, it might have resulted in me having to rearrange most of the chapters that I've planned so far. I'm not entirely happy with the length of it, but like I said, I didn't have much more that I could add. I am however, quite happy with the quality of it. I think this might be one of the better chapters of this story so far.**

**Enjoy!**

**Megz**

**oxox**

* * *

Caroline sat in her office, awaiting her next appointment with Klaus. It had been almost a week now, and despite their very frequent sessions together, he still hadn't even acknowledged her existence, never mind spoken to her. None of the other patients in the unit had to have as many sessions as Klaus, as most of them were nearly on their way out of the institute, they only had to stop by once a week. Klaus, on the other hand, had to have a session pretty much every day, unless there was a good reason for him not to.

She was beginning to wonder what the problem was. All of the other people working at the institute had said that Klaus was a very interesting character, when he got talking, and was in the right frame of mind. Caroline was beginning to wonder if he was ever going to speak to her at all. It seemed he had developed quite a good relationship with the other people at the institute, especially his ex-councillor, Alaric. It was vital that a patient have good relationship with their councillor, otherwise there was almost no progress that could be made. And nobody knew this better than Caroline.

It was almost a year now, since she'd had her last patient. She thought she'd never be able to work again after that. She didn't know if she'd be able to trust herself again. She'd been put in a position of responsibility, and hadn't taken it seriously enough. If she'd just watched him a little more closely . . . taken a bit more care . . . None of it had been her fault of course. It was no one's fault. But she just couldn't help but wonder, if she'd been a bit more careful, she probably could've kept her last job.

Still, nobody had blamed her, and when they looked over Mason's files again, they saw that there were . . . inconsistencies, things that didn't quite match up. They said that it would've happened eventually, and that Caroline shouldn't blame herself.

But she had. She'd spent a year with her family, locked away, blaming herself. It had taken a while to get over it, and there had been some days when she'd thought that she might _never _get over it. But she had. It didn't mean that she never thought about it, and it certainly didn't mean that she didn't feel terrible about it. But it wasn't weighing her down anymore. She wouldn't let it.

Tyler had been the one to help her get over it. He'd been the one to hold her every night, when she woke up in a cold sweat, reliving that night in her dreams. He'd been the one to piece her back together, bit by bit afterwards. He'd always been there for her, always by her side. Though it didn't seem much like that lately. They rarely spoke ever since they'd moved back to Mystic Falls, and most nights Tyler didn't come home until a good few hours after Caroline did. She often pretended she was asleep, but she could still hear him staggering through the door. She never asked him where he'd been though.

She didn't really have the _time _to sit down and talk to him at the moment. She worked quite long hours at the institute. She was required to spend as much time as she could during the day in her office, in case any of the patients wanted to drop in and see her. And when she wasn't in the office, she had to be on-call constantly, just in case something happened. Apparently when a patient had an "outburst", it was good to have their councillor present, for them to have a familiar face. Even when she was at home, or out, she had to still be on-call for emergencies.

Most people would find Caroline's job tiring, or boring, but Caroline loved it. She loved helping people, and being part of that process. Seeing a patient making their way towards recovery . . . there was nothing quite like it. The sense of pride that she felt towards the end of her time with a patient, was worth every minute of her time spent helping them. It was like watching your child walk for the very first time, and when they were finally released from the institute, Caroline felt no regrets whatsoever, because she knew she'd helped a broken human being put their life back together.

The door opened slowly, and Caroline's train of thought stopped. The engagement ring that she'd been absentmindedly been fiddling with whilst she was thinking, had been slid back onto her finger, and she quickly smoothed down her hair and clothes. She liked to look presentable for her patients, even ones that refused to acknowledge her.

Klaus wandered in, a security guard holding the door for him. Klaus nodded at the tall, broad man, and he stepped outside, closing the door behind him. Once again, Caroline was completely and utterly alone with Klaus.

She didn't even bother to stand as he entered the room.

He looked around for a moment, before sitting in exactly the same chair that he'd been sitting in all week. He brought his knees up to his chest, and pulled his sleeves down to his knuckles. And just as he'd been doing since their first session, he drew his eyes to the window, watching the rain pouring down outside. Caroline wasn't sure, whether he just liked watching the rain, or he was just looking for a reason not to look her in the eyes.

Seeing as this session was set to go just like the last, Caroline reached into her bag, pulling out a notebook. Although there was plenty to read about her patients on file, she liked to conduct her own little examinations, about their habits, little things that they said or did, and see if she could notice anything that people before her hadn't. She never really shared her findings with anyone, as she never really found anything of use, but it just helped her feel a little more connected to her patients, rather than just going off what other people had said about them.

Tucked away in her notebook, were little bits of information about every patient that Caroline had ever helped through recovery. April, a young girl who'd suffered from DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder), or Multiple Personality Disorder. She'd been one of Caroline's first patients, and they'd actually been quite close. April had made a lot of process through treatment, and still kept in touch with Caroline, although it was frowned upon to keep in touch with patients after they'd come out of treatment. However, Caroline tried to make herself more of a friend to her patients than a councillor, it made it easier for them to share things with her.

Then there was Luka, who'd been her patient around the same time as April, but for _much _longer. He'd had Cotard delusion. Caroline had never heard of this before she met Luka, and she later discovered that there was not much known about it. It wasn't entirely untreatable, but there was very little information about it, that was easy for her to access. Cotard delusion is where the patient believes that they are dead, or that they no longer exist. It is usually combined with severe depression, and the patients often deny that a part, or parts of their body are missing. It took a _long _time for Luka to recover, and even now, Caroline had been told recently that he'd been moved into a home, where they could make sure he was eating properly.

And then Jules. Jules had only been Caroline's patient for a few months. Before she'd been sent into Caroline's unit, she'd been put under extremely tight security. She'd had IED (Intermittent Explosive Disorder), which meant she was prone to outbursts of violence. It didn't take long until she was out of the institute, but when Jules had one of her outbursts, she became so unpredictable and wild, that all of the other patients had to be sent to their rooms, until she could be controlled.

There were little bits about other patients as well, and Caroline skimmed over them all quickly, smiling as she felt an overwhelming surge of pride. She'd helped _all _of those people get their lives back on track. She'd helped them become the people they were today. Not many people could say that they'd done that.

The most recent page, her last patient, Caroline couldn't even bear to look at.

Mason.

She quickly skipped the page with his information on, and smoothed down the new one. Even after all this time, she still couldn't bring herself to look at that page. To think about how stupid she'd been. It was just too much. Still, she couldn't bring herself to get rid of the page either. Whether she liked it or not, Mason would always be a part of her life now, just as she had been a part of his. He'd always be there, watching her. He'd always be just over her shoulder, present in every derision, every action, every move she made. And there was nothing she could do about it. Not now.

She pulled a pen from her drawer, and began to scribble down her first thoughts. She didn't really hold back when it came to writing in her notebook. It didn't have to be as cut-and-dry as file work, and she didn't have to make it so medical. It could be as personal as she wished, as she was the only one that was ever likely to see it. She wrote Klaus' name at the top of the page, and scribbled away, pausing occasionally to steal some glances at her mysterious patient.

_Klaus Mikaelson - Mild schizophrenia & severe PTSD_

_Doesn't respond to most forms of communication, unless it's someone he's familiar with. Very closed off, quiet. Serene. Likes to observe things, watch from a distance. Doesn't seem to want to participate. Seems almost lifeless. Taps his hand to his thigh every once in a while, tapping out an imaginary rhythm. Blinks slowly, as if he's not seeing clearly. Eyes dark, haunted. Clothes seem worn, lived in. He doesn't seem to own very many new things. The edges of his shirt are frayed, and he pulls on them occasionally. His shoe-laces aren't tied properly, as if he were in a rush. Or maybe his hands were shaking?_

_Not likely. His hands seem perfectly steady. His hair is messy, as if he's run his hands through it many times before. Parts of it are sticking up in clumps, as if he's been pulling at it. His nails are short, and there is a little dried blood under them, as if he's been scratching at something. Upon closer inspection, there appears to be pain under there too. Scratching at walls._

Caroline turned the page noisily, lost in her own little world. She found she could write for days about this man, even though he'd never even spoken a word to her. There was something about him that just . . . intrigued her. She felt she wasn't really seeing _everything. _In fact, it felt as though she'd not even scratched the surface when it came to him. There was still so much to know, so much that she was missing. And the not knowing only made her more curious.

Upon hearing the page turn, Klaus' head shot up, his eyes meeting Caroline's for the very first time. He hadn't noticed she'd been writing, and Caroline dropped her pen and notebook on the floor in surprise. His eyes were full of anger, and a little fear. Caroline knew enough to know that those two emotions didn't mix too well for a patient, and yet, in spite of this, she found herself blushing, and suddenly feeling very embarrassed.

Klaus continued to watch her, as she picked her notebook off of the floor, and her pen, placing them on the table carefully. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and looked him in the eye again.

It was strange, she'd waited so long for _any _kind of response from him, and now that she'd finally gotten one, she'd clammed up. Now that she was the subject of that terrifying, but mysteriously beautiful gaze, she didn't know what to do. She was just completely stunned. She'd never noticed how amazingly . . . blue his eyes were before. And now that she had, she just . . . she was lost for words.

She shook her head, realizing she was staring. He was her _patient _for God's sakes! She was making a _complete _fool of herself, and it was _completely _inappropriate for her to be having thoughts like that about someone that had been placed in her care.

"I . . . sorry," Caroline mumbled, shuffling things around on her desk so that she could avoid looking him in the eye. Strange, how the roles had been reversed, and now _she _was the one refusing to look at _him. _"I . . . I think you should go now. There's not really much more that needs to be done for today. Just . . . come to me if you're having any problems, okay?"

She said the same thing at the end of all her sessions with him, but he never replied. And he certainly never came to her with any problems. Still, she still had hope that she'd get through to him eventually. Everyone else had managed to earn his trust, it was only a matter of time before she did as well, surely? She only hoped that next time he showed some kind of recognition, that she didn't make a complete fool out of herself again. The way she'd handled the situation was extremely unprofessional, and childish.

As he left, Caroline told herself that she'd acted that way purely because she was just getting readjusted to the job, and that it had absolutely _nothing _to do with a certain mysterious and handsome patient with deep, blue eyes.

* * *

**Well? What did you think? Please let me know, REVIEW! :D**


	4. Chapter Four: Not About You

**Hey guys!**

**So I know the last chapter was a little slow, but I did have quite a lot of writer's block with it. However, I think I did quite well, as I'd only planned one scene for the entire chapter, which I don't think I've ever done before. Anyway, most of you seemed to like it, so thank you. And thank you to;**

**Aaaamber, IrishBeauty294, arielmermaid, VampireLoveStory, Aishabi108, anna alina, and Grace5231973.**

**I won't say anything else, just enjoy!**

**Megz**

**oxox**

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* * *

Caroline tapped her pencil impatiently. She was waiting for Jeremy. His appointment had been at 10:00, and he was already five minutes late. As most people knew, Caroline was _very _impatient, and didn't like waiting for _anything. _Her mother had once suggested that, due to her lack of patience, psychiatric counselling might not have been the best job for her. But, after taking a psychology course in college, and getting her first job as a councillor at the age of twenty two, Caroline had done pretty well. Still, her job did prove to be quite difficult at times.

In the past few days, she'd still managed to get absolutely _nothing _out of Klaus. All of her other patients so far, had been incredibly welcoming and cooperative. Not him. He still continued to just sit in his chair, and stare out of the window. Caroline had encountered people like him before, but they usually only acted that way because of the disorders they had, or because they were on so much medication, that they were completely unaware of their surroundings. But as far as she could tell, Klaus only acted like this with her. Maybe it was because she was new? Maybe he was testing her? She didn't know. But she sure as hell wanted to find out.

There was just something about him that she'd never encountered before. He was different. Different to any patient she'd ever had, different to any _man _she'd ever met. Something about the way that he observed things, the way he was always 100% aware of what was going on. He was definitely different, alright. He was an enigma. A mystery that Caroline couldn't quite solve. And if she was being honest, she was quite enjoying trying to figure him out. It was sort of a . . . personal project of hers. That, and to get all of her current patients out of counselling before she left her job.

As Caroline began to chew on the nub of her pencil absentmindedly, Jeremy walked in, closing the door quietly behind him. He gave Caroline a small, apologetic smile, before taking the seat in front of her desk. He didn't curl up as Klaus normally did, or wrap his arms around himself protectively, like Rose. He didn't even twitch nervously, or play with his hair or clothes, like Anna and Vicki. He just sat, with his legs slightly apart, arms placed on the arm rests comfortably. The one thing that Caroline did notice, however, was that he was tapping his legs awkwardly, thinking of a way to fill the silence that had now consumed them.

"Hi," he began, sounding slightly hesitant, as if not really sure what to say. Caroline felt exactly the same. It was fine with all of her other patients, because she was just meeting them for the first time. But she'd known Jeremy since he was a little kid, when he used to sit and watch cartoons with her and Elena. How had everything gone so wrong? She'd been away for a while, but in that time, Jeremy had become a wreck, as far as Caroline could tell. "How've you been?"

"Good, I guess," Caroline replied, giving him a small, encouraging smile. "What about you?"

"I . . . I've been better," Jeremy grinned, and gave a small laugh. And suddenly, it was like having that little boy back all over again. The way his grin lit up the rest of his face, like nothing was wrong. Caroline could almost convince herself that that were true. "It's been . . . a while since I've seen you. And under different circumstances, obviously."

"Do you . . . do you want to talk about what happened? About why you're here?" Caroline asked. She already knew a bit of the story, of course. But she always found it was better to hear the patient's side of things. You often found out some things that you may not have known before. And it let the patient know that you were interested, that you actually wanted to know. And that you wouldn't just believe everything you read in a file. It was more personal.

"I . . . I guess I could, if you want?" he replied, and Caroline nodded, gesturing for him to continue. "It kind of started after Bonnie and I broke up. She found out I was taking drugs, and she didn't like it. She broke up with me, and I hit the drugs pretty hard. I kind of . . . I lost myself. And I'm not proud of that. I managed to get away with it, for a while. Bonnie kept it a secret from Mom and Dad, though she wasn't happy about it. But then, I came pretty close to overdosing, and she had to tell them. Mom wasn't too happy about it. She yelled a lot, and called Elena home from school. They gave me a choice between staying at the house and getting clean, or leaving. But by this point, I was too addicted, and . . .

They kicked me out. I lived with some other people for a while, who were also addicts. But I missed Elena, and my Mom, and my Dad . . . and Bonnie. It just wasn't the same, you know? But when they kicked me out, I lost everything. I didn't even know what town I'd ended up in. There was no way of getting back to them. I didn't know what to do, but I _did _know that I wanted to get back to them. I sobered up, if only for a little while, and found my way back to Mystic Falls. It'd been about four months since they'd kicked me out, and I remember, I ran up to the house, and . . . their car, my parent's car, it wasn't there.

They loved their car, they'd had it since they were teenagers, there's no way they would've gotten rid of it. Elena's car was there instead. And she was supposed to be at college. I ran up to the door, and knocked a few times. Elena answered, and she hugged me, and invited me inside. She sat me down on the stairs, and told me what had happened. Mom and Dad had been driving over the bridge, with Elena in the back seat. Dad lost control of the car, and they drove right off the bridge. Damon had been walking nearby, and called for help. He managed to get Elena out of the car, but . . . he couldn't save my parents.

I lost it. It was too much for me. That was the night I overdosed."

"Had you noticed before then, that the drugs had been giving you side-effects? Different to the usual ones?" Caroline asked, trying to keep herself from crying at Jeremy's story, and trying to stay professional about it. She wished she could've been there for all of them.

"Not really. I mean, I thought it was normal, I had no idea that they'd do . . . this to me," he replied, hanging his head. Caroline sighed. Most people _didn't _have any idea that drugs could have consequences like this. But when you'd taken them as much as Jeremy, it was hardly a surprise that he'd ended up with a drug-induced disorder.

"I know," she nodded, sadly. Caroline had known Jeremy most of her life, and it was terrible to think he'd turned out the way he had. It wasn't his fault. He fell in with the wrong crowd, he made mistakes, something everybody did once in a while. But Caroline knew that what had happened to Jeremy, didn't just affect him. It had affected everyone. It had almost destroyed them. Elena, Bonnie, even his parents, before the accident. And the fact that Caroline hadn't been able to be there for any of them when it happened . . . it hurt.

"But I'm making progress now, right? They said I might even be able to go home soon . . ." Jeremy trailed off, and a hopeful look took over his face. Although he pretended to like it here, it was clear all he wanted was to go home. He was clearly trying hard to change, and he really was improving. Caroline smiled, and nodded slowly. But it was clear home wasn't all he was thinking of, as a different look took over his face. "How's Bonnie?"

"She's . . . she's fine Jeremy, don't worry," she replied, and Jeremy gestured for her to continue. It was probably driving him crazy (pardon the phrasing), not seeing her. It must have been about a year since their last conversation. Bonnie refused to visit him in the institute, it'd be too painful for her. It was obvious both of them still cared about each other, and Caroline hoped that once Jeremy got out of the institute, they'd be able to work things out. "She . . . she misses you."

"I . . . I miss her too," Jeremy sighed, leaning back in his chair, and covering his face with his hands. "I don't know how things got so messed up . . . She was the only thing in my life that was solid, you know? I just want to get out of here, so I can see her again . . ."

"What about Anna?" Caroline asked, almost like an instant reaction. She knew she was supposed to be talking about how Jeremy was coping, and what would happen when he got out, but she just couldn't seem to stop herself.

"I don't know . . ." he sat up, leaning forward, as if the person in question could hear them. "I met her when I first got here, and I really like her, but . . . I just don't see it ever going anywhere, you know? She'll probably be in here much longer than me, and once I get out . . . where would that leave us? I know she likes me, but . . . I just don't think it'd work between us. I just miss Bonnie so much, and I want to see her . . ."

"You still love her, don't you?"

"I think so."

* * *

"Care, I don't understand why you're making such a big deal out of this!" Tyler yelled, slamming his fist on the table in anger.

It was late at night, and Caroline and Tyler had just finished their dinner that Caroline had so lovingly prepared for them . . . three hours ago. This wasn't the first time Tyler had returned home from work late, and Caroline could hardly stand it anymore. She hated it, not knowing what time he'd be home, when he'd be hungry. Some nights, he didn't even return until she was in bed. And then he'd have the _nerve _to ask her where his dinner was. It wouldn't bother her so much, if it were the only thing he'd begun doing recently.

"It's not just about the party Ty, and you know it!" Caroline cried back with equal rage in her voice. Her eyes were brimming with tears, but she wouldn't back down first. It just wasn't in her nature.

When Tyler had finally returned from work that night, he'd told Caroline that he'd have to be about two hours late to their engagement party tomorrow. They'd been planning it for months, and Caroline had put so much effort into it, as she did with everything. Not only that, but Tyler had completely forgotten to pay the money for the room they were holding it in. Now Caroline had to run down there tomorrow at about seven a.m., and beg the owner to let her keep their slot. This might not have bothered her either, if it were the only thing.

"I can't help working late, can I?" he spat back, throwing himself back off of the table, and running his hand through his hair. Caroline scoffed, and began to pace backwards and forwards across the room.

"Oh my God, just stop lying!" she screamed back, shaking her head. "I know you're not at work, stop treating me like an idiot! Connor stopped by the other morning to deliver some papers for you. I asked him why he wasn't at work if you still were, he said you always leave early. He said he didn't know where you were, or what you were doing. Just tell me what's going on!"

"Nothing!"

"_Stop. Lying to me." _Caroline replied threateningly, taking a step towards him. Tyler clenched and unclenched his fists. It looked as if he were thinking very hard about something, deciding on whether he should say it or not. "Are you cheating on me?"

"No, of course not! I . . ." he trailed off, but Caroline gestured angrily for him to continue. "I need some time, okay?"

"Time? Time for what?! You leave work early every day, you've got plenty of time!"

"I needed time away from _you!" _Tyler yelled, and his words echoed around the flat like a funeral bell. Caroline stared at him, in shocked disbelief. "Time away from your incessant complaining, and moaning about how terrible your life is. Did it ever occur to you that things might be going on in _my _life? That I might have problems of my own? No, I'll bet it didn't!"

"How _dare _you?!" Caroline gasped, "You have no _idea _how hard it's been, blaming myself for what happened to Mason, thinking that if I'd just looked a _little _closer . . . And then coming here, seeing how much my friends have changed without me, how much they've achieved . . . Getting a new job, because Lord knows you could never afford this flat on your own. Saving up the money for the two of us to buy a house together!"

"I hate to break it to you Caroline, but not everything is about you!" Tyler shot back, taking a few more steps towards his fiancé. They were now stood face-to-face now, their toes almost touching. Under any other circumstance, it would've seemed romantic, and intimate. But this was an entirely different circumstance, and Tyler's proximity was almost threatening. "So what, if I need a little time away? It's nothing to do with you!"

"It is when I'm waiting up until all hours of the morning for you to come home! We'll be married soon, Tyler! And then what will you do? What if we have a _kid? _Will you just leave me with _our baby, _alone, when it gets 'too much' for you to handle? Is that how it's gonna work from now on?" she asked. Tears were now beginning to race down her cheeks, but she ignored them. A few years ago, Tyler would've wiped her tears away gently, and held her tightly, whispering apologies into her hair. But he was no longer the Tyler she'd met a few years ago. This Tyler was cold, and harsh. He was immune to her tears.

"I'm leaving, I don't have to put up with any more of this crap!" he yelled, rushing towards the door. But Caroline wasn't going to let him have the last word, not this time.

"Leave then! A real man doesn't run away because things get 'too much' for him! But you're not a man, are you? You're a coward, Tyler, a coward!" she cried behind him, unsure of whether he even heard her or not. She buried her face in her hands, and sat back down at the table, with her empty plate on it, and Tyler's, which was completely untouched.

Her cry was answered by the slam of a door.

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**Well? I know it wasn't much, but what did you think? REVIEW! :D**


	5. Chapter Five: Your Majesty

**Hey guys!**

**Thank you for your reviews on that last chapter, it really does mean a lot! I know not a lot happened, though there was a bit of drama with Tyler and Caroline, and I know there hasn't been much, if any Klaroline moments so far, but I promise you, I'm building up to it. I've been waiting a while to write this _particular _chapter, because it's leading up to one of the main plots of the story. (Yes _plots _plural, there's a few).**

**Also, I know some of the characters may be a little OOC, but it is supposed to be a few years since they graduated high school, and it's AU, so they're bound to be a _little _different. **

**Thanks to;**

**IrishBeauty294, cupcakesweetheart5, ApekshaStar, and Grace5231973.**

**Anyway, I won't keep you any longer,**

**Enjoy!**

**Megz**

**oxox**

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* * *

"So where's Tyler?"

It was the night of Caroline's engagement party. The party had only begun about half an hour ago, but already, people were beginning to wonder about the whereabouts of her fiancé. The truth of the matter was; she hadn't seen him since last night. Once he'd stormed out, as far as she knew, he hadn't returned. She'd had to leave the apartment at about six in the morning, so she didn't even know if he'd been back to the apartment at all. She didn't even know if he was going to come tonight. The idea of being stood up at her _own _engagement party was just too humiliating, so she lied.

"He'll be here any minute, I'm sure." is what she replied to the _countless _number of people that were asking her.

Once she'd arrived at the room, Caroline had discovered that Tyler had _also _failed to hire someone to set the room up. And so, she'd had to call in Elena, Bonnie, Matt, and his girlfriend Rebekah, to help out. Between the four of them, they'd managed to get it all done in a few hours, and Caroline was extremely grateful for their help. It had also given her an opportunity to get to know Rebekah. She didn't mention her brother of course, that was not a conversation to be had with someone that you'd only just met.

She seemed perfectly nice, though. She was about Caroline's age, with long, blonde hair. She had bright, round, blue eyes, and a clear, quite posh, English accent. She adored Matt as well, which Caroline thought was sweet. She seemed to think herself lucky to have him, and Caroline didn't think anybody deserved Matt more. Although Rebekah could sometimes be a little cutting, and sometimes spoke without thinking, Caroline had already been warned about it. And after spending almost an entire day with her, she felt she'd gotten used to it, anyway.

"Worried loverboy's not going to turn up?"

Caroline couldn't help but smile, despite her bad mood. That was a voice she recognized well, and she didn't even need to turn around to know who it was. She hadn't seen him for over a year now, and she'd missed his dry and sarcastic sense of humour, even though it used to annoy her to no end. And if anybody else would've turned round and said that to her that night, she probably would've ripped their head off. Turning on her heel, she found herself face to face with none other than Damon Salvatore.

He grinned, but then sensed her uneasiness about Tyler not being there, and sighed, enveloping her into a hug. It was comforting, and warm, and Caroline couldn't help but relax into his arms. It was probably just what she'd needed. Her day so far had been extremely stressful, and had made Caroline very uneasy and tense. She'd been told before that she was a bit of a control freak, and she couldn't really deny it. She'd wanted everything to be perfect for tonight. And everything was, perfect, except for the fact that her fiancé had still failed to turn up.

"Don't worry, he'll be here." he whispered into her hair, hugging her tightly. Caroline faintly noticed that he smelled of bourbon, and leather. There was something familiar about it, and only now, did she feel like she was really at home. Surrounded by all of her family and friends. But then, wasn't Tyler the one who was supposed to feel like home? Wasn't that what marriage was about? Then again, it's not like it mattered anyway. It was too late now. "He'd have to be a complete _idiot _not to. Then again, I've never met him, so he _might _be a complete idiot for all I know. Still, if he doesn't turn up, I might just have to whisk you away myself."

Caroline laughed, as Damon broke the hug, forcing Caroline to do a little twirl. He slowly took in her outfit and appearance. And she really did look beautiful, Elena had done a brilliant job. His girlfriend had been running around all day, buying make-up and clothes for Caroline, to make her a little less stressed out. And it had all been worth it in the end, in his opinion.

It was strange how, just five years ago, Caroline had _hated _Damon. But then again, he'd been a completely different person. He'd been what Caroline had referred to as the 'player' of the school. He always had a small group of girls following him around, doing whatever he asked of them. He'd slept with pretty much _everyone _at their high school - luckily, not including Caroline, who, it seemed, had been the only one with any dignity - and walked all over them right afterwards. He was a complete douchebag, and when Elena told Caroline she liked him, she'd had to question her friend's sanity. Sure, he was hot, but there wasn't really much beyond that.

But then, Elena caught his eye, and he began to change. And even Caroline couldn't deny then, that he would do _anything _for Elena. He'd fallen in love, and nobody, not even Elena, could believe how much it changed him. And even though Elena was already with Stefan, and all the odds were stacked against him, he never stopped trying. He waited _years _for her, and by the end of it, he was barely even recognizable. But he'd changed. Definitely for the better. And Elena finally chose him. Because even though he still wasn't perfect, she saw the good in him that nobody else did.

"I'm not sure how Elena would take that," Caroline replied, amused and raising an eyebrow.

"She'd understand," Damon smirked, winking at her. He offered his arm to her, and she took it, grinning. "Now, are you doing to tell me where this fiancé of yours is hiding, so I can kick his ass, or am I going to have to find him myself?"

* * *

It was over an hour later when Tyler actually turned up. But, by this point, Caroline was having too much fun with her friends to notice. They seemed to have a knack for distracting her from her problems, which was one of the things she loved most about them. When Tyler finally arrived, Caroline was out on the dance floor with Bonnie and Matt. Elena and Rebekah were on the side-lines, laughing at all of them. It seemed that Matt had some very . . . inventive dance moves. The likes of which Caroline had never seen before, and she was pretty sure no human being should _ever _do.

However, Tyler's arrival didn't go completely unnoticed. Damon and Stefan noticed him from the other side of the room, and Stefan, having been told by Damon what Caroline's situation was, nodded at his brother. They made their way over to the door slowly. They didn't want to spoil Caroline's good mood. This was the first time she'd looked _that _happy all night. They weren't going to let her idiot fiancé ruin it.

"Your majesty, so nice of you to grace us with your presence," Damon said sarcastically, stepping right in front of Tyler, and blocking his entrance. Stefan wasn't far behind him, taking his place by his brother's side. Tyler was dressed in a suit and tie, which looked very formal and expensive from a distance, but close up, was slightly crumpled. The younger man raised an eyebrow, looking both brothers up and down.

"Do I know you?" he asked, his tone sounding slightly irritated. This just annoyed the Salvatore brothers even more.

"No," Stefan began, then taking a step forward, so only Tyler could hear him. His voice dropped to a whisper, and Damon smirked, "But you will."

"Damon and Stefan Salvatore, we were in high school with your _fiancé," _Damon interrupted, and Stefan stepped back again. Tyler was beginning to look more and more annoyed, which didn't bother Damon in the slightest. If it turned into a fight, so be it. Although it would be quite difficult to explain why two _police officers _had gotten into a fight with a seemingly innocent man. Still, it'd be worth it to teach the douchebag a lesson. "We just thought it was about time the three of us had a little chat."

"You see, Caroline's one of our best friends. And we'd hate to see her get hurt," Stefan took over again, and Damon stood to the side, glancing threateningly at Tyler. "And she doesn't seem too happy at the moment. I wonder why that is? _Maybe, _it's because her fiancé turned up to their _engagement party, two hours late? _Do you know what? I think that might be it. Now, if I were him, I wouldn't have done that."

"Caroline's an amazing person, and she's been through so much in the last year, which I'm sure you know." Damon continued, "It's taken a lot out of her just to come back here, especially to take up her old job again. And it would seem, from what she's told me, that this isn't the first time you've left her waiting for you. Is that what you're gonna do in a few weeks' time? On your _wedding day? _Are you gonna leave her waiting, while you go off doing God knows what?"

"Long story short," Stefan cut Damon off, knowing that if he didn't, his brother would eventually resort to blows, which was not something they needed right now. "You don't deserve her. I'm sorry, but you don't, and you know it. And yet, she chose to be with you. She chose you, above _anybody else. _Why she did that, I don't know, because you sure as hell don't seem so special from where I'm standing. But you know what? I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt, because I know she loves you. And you better hope that you prove me wrong, because otherwise, well . . . I don't think I need to tell you what."

Both of the brothers stepped back, looking pretty pleased with themselves. As far as they were concerned, they'd said their piece, and now it was Tyler's turn. The looks in their eyes were practically _daring _him to make the next move. Still, Tyler stood his ground. He wasn't going to let himself be told that he didn't deserve his fiancé by two complete strangers. Especially not on the night of his own engagement party. It was nothing to do with them, and he was going to make damn sure they knew that.

"And who made any of this your business?" Tyler replied simply, and it took all of the strength Damon had not to punch him.

"It's my business, when your fiancé doesn't even know where you _are _half the time, and you leave her with no explanation. I'm not sure what you think you're going, but to me, all the signs are pointing in the wrong direction. We just wanted to see if perhaps we were just getting the wrong impression," he spat between gritted teeth.

"You don't even know what you're talking about!" Tyler yelled back, getting angry now. These two men were really pushing his buttons. Though he had a feeling they already knew that. "I'm not going to stand here, and let myself be threatened by two idiots that can't even have successful relationships themselves! Caroline told me about the two of you, always pining after Elena, running around after her like a pair of lost puppies. It's pathetic! And what, you think that now she's told you she's made her decision, that's it? You won't be able to keep her Damon. Not for long. Because that's the thing with women, they always want _more. _They need to feel like you've _committed _to them. If you don't show her that, you're going to lose her. And I think you know that, don't you? I don't know why the two of you ever bothered though, to be honest. I mean, she's not exactly much to look at, is she? Still, I wonder if she's any good in the sack?"

"You son of a-"

"What's going on here?" Caroline interrupted, pushing past the Salvatores. Damon's fist was raised, as he'd been about to punch Tyler square in the face. And Stefan couldn't exactly say he'd been about to stop him. In fact, he probably would've given him a hand, if it wasn't for Caroline's little interruption. Damon lowered his fist, as Caroline turned to him, confused. Damon could see Tyler smirking at him from behind the blonde's back, but he chose to ignore it. He'd get the dick back later.

"Nothing." Damon answered shortly, backing away. He nodded at Tyler, as if to say 'We're not done here.', before shooting a wide, fake smile at Caroline. Luckily, she bought it, and smiled back. "We were just congratulating your fiancé on your engagement. Isn't that right -"

_Riiiing! Riiiiiiiiiiing! Riiiiiing!_

Once again, he was cut off. This time, by Caroline's cell phone. She quickly apologized, and fished it out of her dress pocket. Normally, she would've just declined the call, and put her phone away. But she'd quickly glanced at the caller ID, and it was Meredith. Meredith was working tonight, and there was only one reason why she'd call. Especially as she knew it was the night of Caroline's engagement party. It was an emergency. Caroline sighed, and accepted the call.

"Hello?"

"He what?"

"Well, do you want me to come in?"

"Tonight?"

"Is it really that bad?"

"I guess, but . . ."

"Who else is there?"

"So why do you want me to come in?"

"I understand that, but -"

"Meredith, I -"

"Okay, I'm on my way."

Sighing again, Caroline ended the call, and put her phone back in her pocket. She looked slightly angry, but worried and scared at the same time. She turned to look at her friends on the dance floor, and wished she could go back and join them. But, unfortunately, current circumstances prevented her from doing just that. She looked at Tyler, and could tell that he was already annoyed. And as she breathed deep, there it was, the faint smell of alcohol, which he had obviously tried to bury under pounds and pounds of cologne.

"That was Meredith. She wants me to go in," Caroline explained, trying not to look at Tyler. She was too disgusted by him right now. Showing up late to their engagement party late was one thing, but turning up _drunk _was even worse. She didn't know whether it would've been better if he hadn't turned up at all. But honestly, she was almost glad that she'd been called back into the institute tonight. It was an excuse to get away from him. Another argument was the last thing she needed right now.

"Tonight?" Tyler asked, and Caroline had to give him points for trying. He was standing perfectly straight, and his words weren't slurred at all. But Tyler was an angry drunk, and she could just tell from the slight discolouring around his eyes that he'd drank _way _too much before coming here. It was moments like these, when she wondered why she'd even agreed to marry him in the first place. He was ungrateful, stubborn, jealous, always late, and kept way too many secrets from her. She'd been told countless times before that she could do better, and she knew it. So why had she done it?

"I'm sorry, but Klaus is having a bad night. She said there's at least four people with him now, but he's not calming down. They want to see if there's anything I can do to help," she replied shortly, not wanted to spend any more time with him than was absolutely necessary. She just wanted to get out of there, and get to the institute. Whatever was going on over there, it sounded dangerous, and Caroline didn't want to see another one of her patients get hurt. Especially not after what happened with Mason.

"Typical, I've just got here, and already, you're leaving." he muttered under his breath, and Damon took a step forward again, but Caroline pushed him back. She could handle this one on her own. She'd stood up to him countless times before, and she'd keep on doing it, until either he saw sense, or one of them left. And to be honest, she was kind of hoping for the latter. Except she was too scared to leave him. Too scared of what he might do it she did.

Stepping around her fiancé, and giving Stefan and Damon a grateful smile, Caroline began to leave, before turning back on her heel. Tyler stood watching her, in disbelief, as she looked him right in the eye, and whispered;

"Well maybe if you'd gotten here at the same time as everybody else, we might have gotten to spend a little more time together,_ darling."_

* * *

**So? I know it was a little short, but let me know what you think, anyway? REVIEW! :D**

**Oh, and before anybody asks, yes, Damon and Stefan are both police officers in this fic. Something that is a big part of one of the plots of this story. ;)**


	6. Chapter Six: Distraction

**Hey guys!**

**So the last chapter was pretty fun to write, and quite easy too, so I'm glad that you enjoyed it. Most of your comments were about how much you hated Tyler, which is a good thing, because that's exactly how I'm trying to write his character. I've got nothing against Michael Trevino, or his acting, I just hate Tyler. Not that I think he'd do any of this stuff though.**

**Thanks to;**

**1998baby, HelloCutePanda, Aishani108, IrishBeauty294, nolechic512, arielmermaid, ApekshaStar, Grace5231973, and cupcakesweetheart5.**

**If you have any questions, put them in a review, PM me, tweet me, or ask them on my tumblr, whichever you prefer! :)**

**Enjoy!**

**Megz**

**oxox**

**Twitter: NamesNotDorris  
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* * *

Caroline arrived at the institute in under ten minutes, and as soon as she got there, she rushed to the door. She'd been able to tell from Meredith's tone in the phone call, that whatever was going on, it wasn't good. She'd already heard tales of Klaus' "outbursts". And although he seemed relatively calm in his sessions with her, his mood could change at the flip of a switch, and no one really knew what triggered it. Why they thought she could be of any help whatsoever, she had no idea. Still, he was her patient, and she wanted to know what was going on, in order to find out more about him, and his behaviours.

She was still dressed in her clothes from the party, as there hadn't been time to change. Making her way down the hallways, in the heels she'd chosen, was proving very difficult, so she slid them off of her feet, and held them in her hand as she walked. She passed few people on the way, which confirmed her suspicions she'd had on the way there, that Meredith had sent all the other patients to their rooms, so as not to cause even more of a disturbance.

As Caroline got to the Open Unit, she began to hear signs of Klaus' outburst. There was clattering, shouting, and even some screaming coming from the end of the corridor. All the other doors appeared to be locked, but Klaus' was thrown wide open, and Caroline was almost too scared to go in. She'd dealt with patients' "bad nights" before, but this sounded a whole lot worse than she could have ever imagined. It was unbelievable to think that the screaming and shouting from down the corridor was coming from the same person that sat in her office for hours on end, never saying a word.

Caroline sighed. She knew she had to go in, they'd called for her. She put her heels down outside Klaus' door, and made her way in quietly. And what she saw before her, could only be described as chaos.

Klaus was on his bed, being held down by four members of staff. His bed sheet was on the floor, next to a broken lamp. His curtains were torn, and a chair overturned in the corner. He clearly hadn't held back. Caroline had never been in any of her patient's rooms before, but she couldn't imagine they'd be anything like Klaus'. Because besides the chaos going on at the moment, anyone could tell that it was the room of a very troubled man.

There were scratches on the wall, clearly made by his nails. Some of the scratches were even laced with blood, where the wall had obviously torn the skin on his fingers. There were dents in the wall too, from the impact of punches. One of the walls was covered in writing, most of it unreadable, but a few words stood out to Caroline; _darkness, monster, killer, wrong, wrong, wrong, empty, hollow, alone. _The only part of his room that had been left entirely untouched, was the table. All that was on it, were pencils, and two piles of paper. One pile, was full of plain paper, the other, were drawings.

Caroline was about to make her way over to the bed, and help her colleagues to restrain Klaus, when the drawing on the top of one of the piles caught her eye. It was a girl, with long, curly hair, and wide, doe eyes. She was grinning widely, and looking at something in the distance. The drawing was very detailed, and had an almost lifelike quality. But that wasn't why it caught Caroline's eye. It was because it was a drawing of _her._

And before she could think better of it, or anyone could stop her, she took the drawing, folding it up, and sliding it into the back pocket of her dress. She had no idea what possessed her to do so, but she didn't have time to think about that right now. What she had to focus on, was that Meredith, and more importantly Klaus, needed her help.

She made her way towards his bed slowly, not sure as to what she should do. She was simply going to help them pin him down, until she noticed they'd managed to strap him to the bed now. He was restrained by what looked like thick, leather belts, but were obviously stronger than that. Klaus thrashed and kicked under the restraints, but it did no good, they were too tight. And although she knew it was for his own good, Caroline couldn't help but feel sorry for him. She could see the fear in his eyes, how haunted he was. It wasn't his fault, not really.

She stood at the side of the bed, while they finished tying him down, and she saw his expression soften slightly, when he noticed her presence. She still wasn't quite used to the odd occasion when he would actually look at her. It would always catch her slightly off guard, the intensity in his gaze alone. And once again, before she could think any better of it, she reached over the bed, to his hand, and took it in hers. She gave it a small, reassuring squeeze, before dropping it quickly, as Meredith turned to her.

"Ah, you made it!" Meredith sighed, straightening her white coat, and smoothing out imaginary creases. All the other doctors, nurses, and helpers were now leaving the room, probably to find something to calm him down.

"Sorry I'm late. Although, it seems you . . . handled the situation pretty well without me." Caroline replied, glancing down at Klaus, who, despite the restraints, was still mumbling, and kicking out. The wild fear in his eyes was back again, and he was beginning to tremble.

"We restrained him, sure, but these . . . outbursts usually last at least three hours. We'll need you to stay with him, and try to calm him down," Meredith explained, and Caroline nodded slowly. She looked around the room, her eyes fixating on the overturned chair. It looked like that chair was going to be the place she was spending most of her night tonight. Not that she really had a choice, she couldn't just leave him. "We can sedate him, but all that usually does is stop him screaming. He'll still be scared, and a little confused. Do you think you can stay with him? I hate to ask, but . . . "

"It's fine, Meredith, I understand. You have other patients to attend to, go and look after them. Don't worry," Caroline reassured her, practically ushering her out of the door. Once Meredith was gone, walking back down the hallway, and all of the other employees were out as well, Caroline picked up her shoes. She didn't put them back on, but closed his door, and made her way towards the overturned chair. She put it the right way up, and picked the bed sheet off of the floor.

Folding the sheet neatly, she placed it under the table, and put her shoes next to it. She took the chair over to the side of Klaus' bed, and sat on it carefully, tucking her feet underneath her. Klaus was still lay on his bed, shuddering, and thrashing around. He cried out a few times, but muttered in between. His lips were chapped, and his hair was damp with sweat. Caroline so wished there was something she could do, but she couldn't help him until he'd been sedated. She sighed.

This was going to be a long night.

* * *

"I lived here before, you know. It was a few years ago now . . ." Caroline said, not looking at Klaus as she spoke. It had been half an hour since he'd been sedated, but he hadn't stopped trembling or mutter, so Caroline had decided to try and distract him. Although he wasn't looking at her, she could tell he was listening. He'd since stopped shaking and muttering, and Caroline could tell her distraction had worked. But she just didn't want to stop talking, in case it started again.

"I grew up here, actually. I only lived a few blocks away." she continued. It didn't matter that what she was talking about meant nothing to him, it didn't matter that she was rambling, it was just a distraction for him. And to be honest, it was nice to have someone listen to her for once. After everything that was going on with Tyler, it was nice to just . . . _talk. _Even if Klaus wasn't particularly interested, at least he was _listening._ "I even went to Mystic Falls High School. I met my best friends there too, Bonnie and Elena.

And they were amazing, they really were. Bonnie had to go through a lot during high school, losing her Grams, and finally meeting her Mom after she abandoned her. Still, she never complained. I don't think she wasn't in pain though. I just think she was very good at hiding it. I think Jeremy helped her though, he was Elena's brother. He and Bonnie started dating when she was a junior. He was a few years younger, but I don't think that really mattered to either of them.

And then there was Elena. You know, she annoyed me _so much _sometimes, but I think it was just because I was jealous. She had two of the hottest guys in school practically drooling all over her, and yet, she never could choose one of them. Stefan, and Damon Salvatore. They moved here from . . . Virginia, I think? I embarrassed myself quite a bit in front of both of them when they first moved her, shamelessly flirting with them. But they weren't interested in me. I think I probably just felt a bit put out, which is why I was so jealous of Elena. She picked Damon in the end, which wasn't what _any _of us were expecting.

I don't know how either of them put up with me to be honest, or why they even agreed to be friends with me in the first place.

I wasn't a very nice person back then. I wasn't a very good friend either. I pushed them both around quite a lot, and walked all over them too. I basically just thought I was better than them, and like they were kind of my groupies. I was terrible, _really _terrible," Caroline laughed, as she shook her head at herself. "And yet, for _some _reason, this guy, Matt, liked me. I still have no idea what he saw in me. I was controlling, paranoid, vain, and kind of bitchy. And yet, he managed to find something _good _in me.

It didn't work out though. We broke up after about a year. We just weren't right for each other, I guess. Still, we stayed friends, and we're still really close. After me and Matt broke up, I think that was when I began to change. He made me realize who I was, wasn't a very nice person. I didn't change for him, I'd moved on, but I think I changed more for myself. I wasn't happy being that person anymore, so I became who I am now.

It was only when we graduated that I was really happy with myself. I went off to do my own thing, and so did all my friends. Elena, Bonnie, and Matt stayed in Mystic Falls. They all had someone, something, to hold on to. Elena had Damon, Bonnie had Jeremy, and Matt had Rebekah, although I only met her earlier today. I had no one. So I decided to go off to college, and train to be a councillor. So that's what I did. I left Mystic Falls behind, and went off on my own.

And it was good, for a while. I got a job at an institute in Chicago, and I . . . I met someone, the nephew of one of my patients. And then . . . things happened, and I made a mistake. All of a sudden, I didn't have a patient anymore, or a job. Tyler, the guy I was seeing, he took care of me. And I don't even think I'd be here today if it hadn't been for him. And then he proposed. I said yes, and then I applied for this job back in Mystic Falls.

When I moved back, everything was different. _Everything. _Damon and Stefan had joined the police force with my Mom, and Damon was living with Elena. Elena's parents were dead, Jeremy had been using drugs and broken up with Bonnie. Then he ended up in here, and Bonnie was heartbroken. They all went through so much, and I couldn't be here for them, because I was selfish. And that sucked. But now, I'm going to make it up to them, you know? Show them that I still care.

I met your sister today . . . Rebekah? She seemed nice, if a little short tempered."

And then, something miraculous happened. Klaus let out a short, clear, bark of laughter. It shocked Caroline so much that she almost fell off of her chair. But instead, she couldn't help but laugh as well. Because Klaus wasn't being bitter, he was laughing fondly at the mention of his sister, and it was like for one moment, one _shining _moment, all the tension between them was gone.

* * *

**Well? I know it was a little short, but let me know what you think!**

**You know what to do!**


	7. Chapter Seven: Broken

**Hey guys!**

**The last chapter was actually pretty fun to write, despite not much really happening. Most of you seemed to like it, though I know you have a lot of questions. Don't worry though, things will be revealed eventually, just give it time!**

**Anyway, thanks to;**

**Arielmermaid, Ktclaire99, Jwakeel, 1998baby, IrishBeauty294, annapung, cupcakesweetheart5, Kaylabeth21, WeasleysGroupie, and Grace5231973.**

**Also, some good news! I've finished one of the Merlin fics I was writing, which means I've got nothing else going on at the moment. I'll be able to focus on this fic completely, until I can come up with another one. I already have a few ideas floating around, but make sure you're following me if you're interested! I'll also have a lot of one-shots coming your way, _mostly _Vampire Diaries ones.**

**Enjoy!**

**Megan**

**oxox**

**Twitter: NamesNotDorris  
Tumblr: MyName'sNotDorris (mynamesnotdorris)  
YouTube: MyNamesNotDorris**

* * *

Caroline shuffled some papers around on her desk, waiting for Rose to walk through the door. Still, she knew she wouldn't turn up until the exact minute of the appointment. She was a bit obsessive with her time-keeping, something that Caroline didn't know whether it linked to her illness, or whether it was just a part of her personality. Then again, it was quite unlikely it would be linked to either of her illnesses. Obsessing over things wasn't usually a symptom or anything related to having schizophrenia or Ekbom's syndrome. In fact, it was probably totally unrelated to both.

As she waited for Rose to arrive, Caroline's eyes were drawn to her patient notebook, which she wrote all of her informal observations on her patients in. Sticking out of the notebook, was a piece of folded up paper. Caroline didn't have to take it out to know what it was, she'd stuffed it in there that morning. It was the picture of her that Klaus had drawn. She'd found it tucked away in her dress pocket that morning, and hadn't wanted Tyler to find it, so she'd put it in her notebook. Tyler was extremely jealous and protective, it was probably best he didn't know about that drawing.

After all, Caroline didn't know much about the drawing herself, or the feeling or motive behind it. She wondered if Klaus had noticed it was gone by now, or if he ever would. Maybe he had more like it? Caroline didn't know what was worse, the idea that he had more drawings of her, or the idea of him finding out she'd taken that one. Probably the latter. The drawing didn't seem in any way sinister, or anything to worry about. In fact, Caroline might find it even a little flattering, if it weren't _entirely _inappropriate.

She picked her notebook up off of her desk, and slid the drawing out from between the pages. She unfolded it carefully, as if it might fall apart in her hands, and laid it out on the desk. It was an amazing drawing, she couldn't deny that. The attention to detail was just . . . and he'd memorized all of her features perfectly. The strangest thing was that she'd never even seen him look at her for longer than a second. The fact that he was able to draw her face _from memory, _and get it so similar, astounded her.

In all honesty, Caroline didn't know what she was going to do about the drawing. She couldn't keep it. It didn't belong to her, and was a very private thing. She should never have even picked it up in the first place. But then, she couldn't exactly give it back without it being extremely awkward. And she couldn't talk to him about it either, seeing as he hadn't spoken a word to her since she got there. She knew the responsible thing to do would be to give it back. It was also the rational thing to do. But when it came to this particular patient of hers, it seemed she was finding it very hard to be rational with _anything._

She hastily shoved the drawing back into her notebook, as she heard Rose approaching. She threw the notebook into her desk drawer, and smiled as her other, much less difficult patient entered the room.

"Hi," Rose said quietly, giving a small wave. Rose was probably one of the more quiet patients that Caroline had come across, but not in the way that Klaus was. Rose was just a bit more reserved than other people, and took longer for people to get to know. She hadn't been in the institute that long, but after a few sessions, Caroline was pretty sure she was ready to leave soon. Still, she hadn't mentioned it yet, as she had to clear it with Meredith and the board first.

"Hi Rose," Caroline smiled, as Rose took the seat across from Caroline's desk.

Rose sat down carefully, and tucked her feet underneath her. She ran her hands up and down her legs awkwardly, which was a sign of the anxiety that had been present in her lately. Caroline had noticed this, and had made a few notes on it. She'd even spoken to Meredith about it, but she thought it was probably due to the fact that Rose hadn't been allowed out of the facility in months, none of them had. It was likely she was just missing the outside world, and needed to talk about it.

"So I heard you've been talking recently, about how you want to leave soon?" Caroline asked, and Rose nodded, absentmindedly. Caroline smiled, that had to be it. "Well, perhaps if you focus on the reasons _why _you want to leave, maybe those reasons will motivate you to help your recovery?" another nod, "What are you going to do when you get out? Is there any family you want to go back to, or . . . ?"

Rose nodded again, and Caroline gestured for her to elaborate.

"Well, I . . . um . . ." Rose began, and Caroline could see her thinking. Then, a smile spread across her face, and she leaned forward in her seat, excited. She readjusted her position, and began to talk animatedly, with more life than Caroline had ever seen in her. "I want to get a job, and my own flat, here in Mystic Falls. I don't really want to leave here, I've made so many friends in this place, and I'd want to come back and visit them. My family all live out of town, but I'd probably go and stay with them for a few weeks, to celebrate. I might even share a flat with my friend, Trevor.

We've known each other since we were young, and we've stayed together ever since. I love him, obviously, but he's like a brother to me. He lives here, in Mystic Falls, he even visits me sometimes. He said he's proud, of the progress I've made. He said that when I get out, he'll take me to the Mystic Grill, to celebrate. I think I mentioned to him once, how much I missed going there."

"You see, even little things, like that. Just keep thinking about those things, and you'll be out in no time," Caroline smiled, happy to see that Rose was excited about something. When Caroline had first met her, she'd been so withdrawn, so lifeless. Watching her talk now, was like seeing a completely different person. And though Rose said she thought of Trevor as her brother, and there was nothing going on between them, a fool could see that was a lie. Still, it was none of Caroline's business really.

But it just proved that love brought out the best in everyone.

* * *

"Oh, you decided you'd come home today, did you?" Caroline yelled sarcastically, as she heard the slam of the front door reverberate through the apartment. "How gracious of you! I apologize, as I wasn't expecting you until around midnight, when I thought you'd sneak in without warning. I must say, this is quite the surprise, I couldn't even make dinner for you -"

"Shut it, Care," Tyler stormed past her, and into the kitchen, grabbing a beer from the fridge. But Caroline had had enough. After the engagement party, Tyler had been coming in at all hours of the morning, sometimes, not even coming back at all. They hadn't even spoken since that night, and Caroline didn't even have the strength to be angry anymore.

"Don't feel like talking tonight, _honey?" _Caroline spat, walking up behind him as he sighed, sitting in the chair. "Perhaps you should've thought about that when you turned up late to _our _engagement party, and then didn't come home for _three days! _I suppose I should have been worried, but I'm not even sure you're worth it anymore -"

"Oh yeah?!" Tyler yelled, standing up from his chair. He reached for the bottle he'd just gotten from the fridge, and before Caroline even had time to react, he threw the bottle at the wall, and it shattered into a million pieces. She barely even flinched. They fought so often now, she was used to it. And as the fights seemed to be getting more and more violent, she braced herself. "Well why don't you just leave me then?"

The question hung in the air for quite a while, and the apartment fell silent. Because even Caroline herself didn't know the answer. Why didn't she just leave him? He wasn't the same man she'd met and fell in love with, and she wasn't even sure if she was _still _in love with him anymore. He wasn't her fiancé anymore, he was somebody else, a monster. So why didn't she just leave him? It wasn't like either of them cared anymore.

But she just didn't feel like she could. Her relationship with Tyler had become such a tangled web of lies and hate, that she didn't think she could see a way out anymore. So they were just stuck together, cold and unfeeling, for the rest of their lives, it would seem.

"You can't, can you?" Tyler whispered, leaning in close. Caroline could smell the alcohol on him as he got closer, and she noticed that he hadn't even _tried _to hide it this time. It was getting worse each time she saw him. "Because you know you're not gonna get anybody else. I'm the best you're ever going to get, Caroline, and you know it. Because nobody else wants you, nobody else _cares. _You're broken, tainted. And nobody wants damaged goods -"

"Stop it!" Caroline shouted, pushing Tyler away from her, and he laughed wryly.

"You see? You know it's true! Deep down, you know it!" he continued to laugh, while Caroline glared. "You know what, you're lucky you've still got me! I could've left you by now, in fact, I _should _have, but I stayed! Because I feel _sorry _for you, and I know that you're not going to be able to do much better than me. We both know it's the truth, so stop denying it!"

"God, you're so full of it!" Caroline threw back, trying to stay as far away from him as possible. He was drunk, that much was obvious, and he was _disgusting. _She could barely even stand to look at him. "Maybe it's time you started thinking about someone other than yourself, Tyler. Did you ever think about that? Do you even love me anymore? Did you ever? Did you even care about me _at all?"_

"You know what, I can't remember. It doesn't matter really though, does it?" Tyler spat back, and Caroline could feel herself starting to crumble, but she stood tall. She didn't want him to see how weak she'd become. She wouldn't give him that satisfaction. "Because I sure as hell don't give a _damn _about you anymore."

Caroline gasped, and it felt like all the air had flown out of her lungs.

But Tyler wasn't affected in the slightest. He simply smirked at her, looking almost proud of himself, before nodding, and turning on his heel. The glass of the bottle being ground up under his shoes. Caroline flinched as she heard the door slam behind him. The silence that followed after was deafening, and she was surprised at how empty and cold she felt. Like the apartment when he wasn't there.

She'd been expecting a fight when he got home, but she didn't think he'd go that far. He'd never said _anything _like that to her before. Ever. Even when he was drunk, he'd always seemed to know where the boundaries lay. There were things that they just didn't say, and that was one of them. At least, it had been. Now, it seemed there was no holding back.

And while she'd tried to stay strong in front of him, now that he'd left, all of her walls came crashing back down. And before she could stop herself, she fell to her knees, with her head in her hands. The glass from the broken bottle cut at her bare knees, but she ignored it. Tears raced down her cheeks, and her body wracked with sobs. She hadn't even realized how much he was affecting her.

He wasn't entirely to blame though, she was partly to blame. He never would have turned to the drink if she hadn't ignored him for months before they came back to Mystic Falls. It was that lack of communication that had driven him away from her, and now he was a completely different person. It was heart-breaking to know that it was her fault he was this way, but she knew she couldn't blame herself for everything. He should have been stronger, better, he should've tried harder, should have fought for her.

The fact he'd given up so easily proved that he didn't love her enough.

But neither of them were to blame for the feeling of completely and utter emptiness that she felt almost constantly. She tried to ignore it, tried to distract herself from it, and sometimes, it worked. When she was around other people, talking to them, it went away from a little while. She was able to pretend. But then when she was alone . . . or when no one was looking . . . the feeling of hollowness crept back up on her. And she hated it. She hated feeling so weak, so empty, so _alone._

She knew it was stupid to feel that way, she was surrounded with friends and family who cared about her, but that wasn't the point. She needed someone to love, and someone to love her in return, with equal measure. She needed someone she could trust, someone who would understand . . . someone who would _try. _Someone who wouldn't give up when things got bad, and could make her smile even when she didn't want to. Someone she could be proud of, and not ashamed. Tyler wasn't that person, she knew that. But it wasn't his fault.

Caroline reached around her, and began to pick up the shattered glass from the bottle. The bottle that lay, empty, and hollow, and as broken as she felt inside.

* * *

Elena walked through the streets of Mystic Falls, all dressed up for a date with Damon. It was something they'd arranged weeks ago, and though they'd at first agreed to go to the restaurant together, they'd said they'd meet there instead. Damon had to drive home from work, get dressed, and then drive to the restraunt, get the table, and wait for Elena. He'd already be there by now, but Elena was glad they'd decided to meet there. It would be a nice surprise for Damon when he saw her.

As she made her way up to the restaurant, she saw a couple across the street. They were walking up to a motel, and it was clear that they were incredibly drunk. Normally, this wouldn't have bothered her, but Elena was sure she'd seen both of them before. She made her way across the street, trying to be as quiet as she could in the heels she was wearing. Still, the couple were loud enough that they probably wouldn't have heard her anyway.

She walked slowly past the motel, watching them closely.

The girl had her arm hooked through the boy's, and they were both stumbling and laughing, leaning in close. But Elena still couldn't see their faces, which was incredibly infuriating. She knew she recognized them from somewhere, but she just couldn't place them. The girl was quite tall, with long, chestnut brown hair, and tanned, olive skin. She was wearing an incredibly short dress, and was clearly dressed for some sort of occasion.

Elena couldn't see much of the guy, as he was dressed in all black, and was walking mostly in the shadows. However, once they got to the door of their room, and the guy stopped to open it, the girl stepped up on her tiptoes, and kissed him on the cheek. It was then, when she had her head turned to the side, that Elena realized who it was.

It was Hayley, one of the girls that Elena worked with.

She'd only started working with her a couple of months ago, as she'd moved to Mystic Falls from Florida. Nobody really knew that much about her, just that she was adopted, and had come to Mystic Falls to look for her real family. Not that she'd found out anything about them. At least, not so far. Elena had been the one to show her around the company, and tell her what she had to do.

Elena told herself to focus, as she watched them go into the room.

Hayley went in first, but the guy stopped. He slid the key back into his pocket, shoving off his jacket. He threw it into the room, stepping in, and taking hold of the door. Behind him, Elena could already see that Hayley was beginning to take off her dress. As the guy turned to close the door, he looked around, to check if anyone was looking. Elena quickly hid behind a tree trunk, but she still caught a glimpse of his face, and a glimpse was all she needed.

Tyler.

* * *

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	8. Chapter Eight: Withheld Information

**Hey guys!**

**I know it's been a while since I last updated, but I've had a lot to do. I've recently written two TVD one-shots, one Delena, and one Kennett. If you'd like, you can check them out by going to my profile. Any reviews on them would be much appreciated. I also just finished school on Friday, and got all my exam results back. I did pretty well.**

**I also know that there hasn't been a lot of Klaroline in this fic recently. Don't worry though, it's on its way, I promise. Just be patient, I'm sure it'll all be worth it in the end.**

**This chapter is, by no means the best, but don't worry, the best is definitely yet to come! I'd say from about . . . Chapter 11, that's when it gets really good, and I can't wait to write that!**

**Thanks to;**

**Grace5231973, Jwakeel, hallie, Aaaamber, Girl96xoxo, IrishBeauty294, WeasleysGroupie, 1998baby, HelloCutePanda, arielmermaid, Obsessed-and-Undecided, and cupcakesweetheart5.**

**Anyway, I've kept you long enough,**

**Enjoy!**

**Megan**

**oxox**

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* * *

"Caroline, there's something I have to tell you."

Caroline had gotten a phone call earlier that morning, telling her to come into work a few minutes earlier. They'd said that Meredith had asked for a very important meeting with her, as there was a matter that they needed to discuss. Caroline wasn't that bothered though, at that moment in time. She'd already been awake half the night anyway, unable to sleep. She'd been worried about Tyler. Where he was, what he was doing. He hadn't even come back.

She knew she shouldn't care. She knew that he treated her badly, that she should just leave him. But she couldn't. Couldn't bring herself to do it. Because, even after everything they'd been through, she still had hope that there was some good in him _somewhere. _That maybe he was a good man, or at least he could learn to be one.

That didn't mean she wasn't still mad at him, because she was. But it just wasn't worth it anymore. She'd much rather just suffer in silence now. Because fighting with him wasn't getting her anywhere. He was just going to keep fighting back and lashing out at her. At least if she gave up, the fighting might stop. The loneliness wouldn't go away though, and he'd still be out half the night. But at least then she could _pretend _he still loved her. That he ever had.

She shook her head, forcing herself to focus on the matter at hand.

"It's about Klaus. There's . . . something we haven't told you," Meredith began, and now Caroline was being to get a little nervous. She'd thought that Klaus seemed a difficult enough patient already, and now there was something _else? _She leaned forward slightly in her seat, and dug her nails into the hard leather. "I'm sorry that we didn't mention this earlier, but the department didn't think it was appropriate -"

"So why has it been deemed appropriate now?" Caroline asked, cutting in. She didn't mean to be rude, but she was a little annoyed that information about one of her patients had been withheld from her. Especially a patient they knew she was having trouble getting through to.

"Well, we noticed that you were having a difficult time getting him to talk to you, so . . . we thought it might help a little," she replied calmly, clasping her palms on her desk, and leaning towards Caroline. It suddenly occurred to Caroline that she had never really seen Meredith _not _calm. That was probably the reason she was such a good doctor. "And they also wanted me to tell you not to be disheartened by the fact he's not talking to you yet. He's just . . . getting used to you, that's all. You should think yourself lucky though . . ."

"Why?" Caroline asked again. Meredith was being incredibly vague about the whole situation, and Caroline was beginning to become agitated.

"You're the only councillor so far that he hasn't lashed out at. In any way. And there may come a time when we can use that as an advantage," Meredith explained, "I think he's taking the time to familiarize himself with you. And then, when he's ready, he'll talk to you. But I think he trusts you. He's never acted this way before with another councillor, or, with anyone really."

"So what was is that you wanted to tell me?" she questioned, fearing they were getting rather off-topic.

"Ah yes, well, the department thought it might help you to know a bit about his past here. They thought it might help you understand him, and may help you get through to him if you knew . . ." Meredith began, and Caroline could tell she was getting nervous now. Clearly this information that she was about to give was extremely sensitive and important. Caroline leaned even further forward, and prepared herself.

"When Klaus first came here, he was . . . manic. He had to be manned twenty-four-seven, in case anything happened. After a few weeks, when we were sure he was ready, we gave him his first councillor. Her name was Jenna Sommers. He was heavily sedated during their sessions, so that he couldn't lash out. Or so we thought. I don't know much about what happened, Alaric knows more than I do, but . . . he somehow managed to skip his medication one day, and avoided sedation.

He went into his session with Jenna as normal, and nobody suspected a thing. It was only when Jenna called down for some assistant, that it became clear what was going on. Half the staff rushed down to her room, but by the time they got in . . . it was too late. Klaus was stood in the middle of the room, with Jenna at his feet. She was dead. And he'd killed her."

"H-How? If you don't mind my asking?" Caroline asked, shocked. She couldn't believe that Klaus was capable of that. She wouldn't.

But then, people were always capable of so much more than they seemed.

"I don't know the details, I'm sorry. Alaric is the only one how knows the full story, though I'm sure he'd be more than willing to tell you. He thinks it's something that's best kept between Klaus' councillors only. Patient-councillor confidentiality of course. The police department were informed of course, but Klaus wasn't arrested. Alaric told them the full story, and they accepted that Klaus was not in his right mind, and the best thing for him was more treatment. If you'd like, I could schedule you a meeting with Alaric in a few days' time?"

"Yes, that would be very helpful, thank you."

* * *

"Good afternoon, Klaus," Caroline greeted her patient as she walked into her office. He was already there, waiting for her. This was odd, as usually he had a security guard by his side at all times. They must have loosened security on him, something that, a few days ago, would have given Caroline more confidence in speaking to, and being alone with him. But now, after what she'd just learned of his past, only made her more nervous in his presence. She was alone with him now . . .

She shook her head, telling herself not to be ridiculous. He was her patient, and it was her job to help him get better. And that was never going to happen if she didn't believe he was better than his past. She couldn't judge him on the things that he had done before he was in her care. Those things were the reasons he was with her in the first place. He needed to move on, and to become better. To grow.

And it was her job to help him do that.

So she decided that today, they'd do something a little different.

He wasn't in the chair in front of her desk today. Instead, he was in a chair next to the coffee table, looking out of the window. She took the chair from behind her desk, and dragged it in front of the window, facing him. This forced him to look at her while she was talking. Grabbing a pen and her notebook from her desk, she sat back in front of him. She tried not to be off-put by his gaze, but its intensity still shook her a little.

"I wanted to talk to you about . . . about Jenna?" Caroline began, and saw him tense up at the mention of her name. She quickly wrote it down in her notebook. She didn't want to miss anything. He brought his knees into his chest, and began looking off to the side instead of at Caroline herself. "I know what happened to her, Meredith told me. It wasn't your fault though, I'm sure. You didn't know what you were doing . . ."

Caroline continued to write things down as she was talking, little things that she noticed. His hands were beginning to twitch, and he was beginning to shake. She knew this was a risky thing to do, especially to a patient with PTSD, but she wanted to see how he reacted to the memory. He'd been doing quite well recently, apparently so much that they'd taken away his security. If there was any time to take risks, it was now.

"Was it an accident? I mean . . . I don't think you meant to do it anyway, but was it an accident? Do you remember it? Did it even feel like you were doing it? Or was it like you were being controlled, or watching somebody else?" Caroline continued to ask questions, although it didn't seem like Klaus was going to say anything. He was beginning to look distant again, and it was pretty clear he wasn't going to be answering her anytime soon. "Do you think that -"

She was quickly cut off by the sound of her phone ringing.

"I'm so sorry! I thought I'd turned it off, just give me two seconds!" Caroline apologized, jumping up from her chair. She went across the room to grab her bag, and took her phone out. Looking down at the screen, the caller ID glowed back at her. _Tyler. _"Actually, and I know this is going to sound terrible but . . . do you mind if I take this? It's really important."

As usual, Klaus said nothing.

Not that she'd been expecting him to.

She quickly accepted that call, and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

* * *

"Tyler, I know, but I'm at work -"

"Yes, I know you only called to tell me that, but -"

"I'm with a patient, this could have waited until later!"

"But it wasn't that important, I didn't think you'd be coming home anyway!"

"What it means, is that I never see you anymore, Tyler! I spend all my time at home by myself, and I'm getting sick of it!"

"We're supposed to be engaged!"

"Oh yeah, it's not like you're the one that proposed to me or anything, is it?"

"How dare you!"

"How can you even say that? We're getting married in a few weeks!"

"You disgust me. I can't even believe you're saying that right now."

"No of course not, I -"

"Oh why don't you just go and have another drink?"

Caroline ended the call abruptly, and shoved her phone back in her bag. And that was when the tears came.

It was embarrassing, how this kept happening, but she would never allow herself to cry in front of him. Her only other option was to cry when he, and nobody else, was around. Still, she was in work, it wasn't at all appropriate. But really, what did it matter anymore? What was appropriate, and what wasn't. Her life was falling apart, just when she'd been trying to piece it back together. Someone finding her crying in the hallways should be the worst of her worries right now.

So she let herself give into her emotions, and let the tears come.

Leaning back against the door of her office, she slid down her back, and onto the floor, bringing her knees up to her chest. She tried to make herself as small as possible, make herself as small as she felt. She closed her eyes, and her whole body wracked with sobs. It amazed her that she had any tears left, after the last few days. She'd have thought she'd run out eventually. But clearly that wasn't the case.

Covering her face, she cried until her throat was hoarse, though she tried to be quiet. She didn't want to disturb the patients. She almost laughed at that. Even when her world was falling apart, and she felt so alone, they were still her number one priority. Because that's the kind of person she was. She cared about other people. No matter what they'd done, no matter who they were, no matter if they cared about her in any way, she still cared about them.

But as she sat outside the office, and cried, she'd never felt so small.

Little did she know, Klaus was doing exactly the same thing on the other side of that door.

* * *

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	9. Chapter Nine: No Doubt About It

**Hey guys!**

**So I know things are going a little slowly with this story at the moment, but I thank you for your patience! I promise you, it will get better. This chapter is a little better, I hope. Don't worry though; drama is on its way. Like I said, from Chapter Eleven is where it gets interesting.**

**Somebody asked as well, why it was that Klaus was crying. Yes, it was because of what happened with Jenna. Sorry, I should have made that a little clearer I think.**

**If anybody else has any questions, put them in a review, PM me, tweet me, or ask me on tumblr, I don't mind!**

**Also, I'm now doing requests on tumblr for one-shots/drabbles. If you have any you want me to write, go to my tumblr, and submit an idea to my ask box!**

**Thanks to;**

**Rucky, Aaaamber, Grace5231973, Aishani108, 1998baby, WeasleysGroupie, elenjah, Kaylabeth21, arielmermaid, shadowfaxangel, and IrishBeauty294.**

**Enjoy!**

**Megan**

**oxox**

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* * *

"So Meredith told me that you want to know about Jenna," Alaric began, sitting down at his table, and Caroline nodded.

Since Alaric no longer worked at the institute, it had been easier for Caroline to visit him at his home, than for them to schedule a formal meeting. Meredith had kindly given her the address, and home number, so that Caroline could check it was okay. Alaric however, lived alone, and worked from home now, so it was quite easy for them to come up with a time to meet.

"Only if you're comfortable," Caroline said, taking the drink that he offered her. "I don't want you to tell me anything you don't feel comfortable with. Meredith said you and Jenna were . . . close. I understand if you don't want to talk about it -"

"Caroline, it's fine, honestly. It's true, Jenna and I were together, but that was a long time ago." Alaric assured her, but Caroline had already seen the pain behind his eyes when she'd mentioned Jenna's name. "And I'm the only one that really knows what happened, no one else is as informed as I am, and it's something that you need to know. Whether I feel comfortable discussing it or not makes no difference, it has to be done."

She nodded slowly, and he set his cup down on the table, preparing himself.

"It was a few years ago, when Klaus first came to the institute. I was working with other patients, so Jenna was assigned as his councillor. Back then, Klaus was quite . . . difficult. So much so that he was the only patient Jenna had. She didn't mind though, she found him fascinating, always said she was going to get to the bottom of his PTSD.

But she had the same problem you have; he didn't talk to her. She tried everything, read books about it, got other doctors in, but he still didn't talk. Eventually, she found out that it wasn't a medical thing, it was a personal thing. It wasn't that he _couldn't _talk to her, it was just that he _wouldn't. _So she stopped trying, and just waited until he was ready.

She didn't stop their sessions though. Her sessions with him became just opportunities to observe him, and wait for him to talk. He didn't, of course. But some days, she said she saw a change in him. Those were the days that he lost it, flipped out. He never attacked her though, he never attacked anyone. Just threw things, and screamed. That's not to say he wasn't dangerous. He was _very _dangerous. If you tried to calm him down, and he swiped at you . . . you could be in some serious trouble.

As I'm sure Meredith told you, he was under very tight security, and had to be heavily sedated in his sessions. Eventually though, he managed to convince Jenna that he was getting better, calming down. She suggested that loosen his security a little, so they did as she said. And for a while, everything was fine. Until he started skipping his medication.

We didn't notice it at first, and by the time we did, it was too late.

He went into his session with Jenna as normal, and nobody suspected a thing. She'd called me that morning, and left a message on my answering machine. She'd said that she'd found something out about Klaus, something about the cause of his PTSD. She was too excited for me to make sense of the message, but she said she'd meet me after work, and tell me about it, after her session with Klaus. She never got to.

Nobody knows _exactly _what happened in her room, but I was given the report on it, so I know the most. I can only assume that she talked to him about the cause of his PTSD, and it triggered something. He lost it, fully this time. And whether he knew what he was doing or not, or whether he _meant _to do it, I don't know, but . . . he killed her, strangled her to death."

"Do you know what it was that Jenna wanted to tell you?"

"No," Alaric shook his head sadly, "But I'm trusting you, to find out."

* * *

"Bonnie, I need to tell you something, it's important . . ." Elena said, as she walked down the street, on the phone to her friend. It was about three days since she'd seen Tyler and Hayley going into that motel, and she'd spent three days wondering what to do about it. She didn't want to tell Caroline _just _yet, only in case she was wrong. Still, she thought it was pretty clear what was going on.

"Do you want me to meet you somewhere, or do you want to tell me right now?" Bonnie asked, and Elena sighed, stopping in the middle of the street.

"I'll tell you now, because I really need your help, but can we meet up later?"

"Yeah, sure," Bonnie replied, and Elena glanced around, making sure no one was walking by. She walked over to the corner of the nearest building, out of sight and earshot, and crossed her arms, leaning against the wall.

"The other day, I was walking to meet Damon, and I . . . I saw something," she began, still trying to make sure that nobody else heard. She knew how fast gossip could spread around this town. "There were two people, a man and a woman, going into this motel. I . . . I knew I recognized them, but I couldn't see their faces until they got to the door. The girl was someone I work with, Hayley, but the guy . . . it was Tyler."

"Oh my God," Bonnie gasped, and Elena sighed again.

"I know. I didn't know what to do. This was a few days ago, and I haven't told Caroline about it, but . . . Bonnie what do we do?" Elena asked, turning round the corner, and going behind the building to continue the conversation.

"Were they . . . I mean . . . are you sure they were doing what we think they were doing?"

"Pretty sure. Hayley took off her dress as soon as she got in the room, but . . . what if I'm wrong? You know, what if it wasn't him, I mean . . ." Elena began, voicing the questions that had been swimming around in her mind for the last couple of days. "I didn't get _that _good of a look at them, I could be wrong . . ."

"There's only one way to find out," Bonnie replied shortly.

"How?"

"We have to go back there. We'll go back to motel tonight, and we'll wait. Caroline said he goes out every night, right? I'm betting that that's where he's going. So all we have to do, is wait for him to show up, and if it is him, and they're doing what we thing they're doing, then . . . well we'll decide what to do about that later."

"Oh God, Bonnie, I hope I'm wrong,"

"Me too."

* * *

Later that night, Bonnie and Elena were sat in Bonnie's car, which was parked in the motel car park, facing the rooms. Elena hadn't told Damon what was going on, again, just in case she was wrong. She'd told him she was going out for the night with Bonnie, which wasn't a _complete _lie. Anyway, if it turned out she was right, she'd tell him the truth soon enough. It didn't really matter anyway, it's not like _she _was the one cheating on anyone. And to be honest, Damon probably would have done the same thing.

As they sat there, and the hours passed by, they began to think that Tyler wasn't going to turn up. And just as Elena began to relax and convince herself that she _had _been wrong, and that it wasn't Tyler, two people began to approach the motel.

Elena nudged Bonnie, and they both slumped down in their seats, watching the couple.

They were drunk again, that much was clear. The man could barely stand up, and the woman wasn't looking much better. Her already minuscule black dress was riding up her thighs, and her spiky heels looked dangerously close to breaking off. The couple made their way towards the door, and the girl was talking rather loudly about something that made no sense. Elena quietly rolled the window of the car down so that they could get a better listen.

She was talking gibberish of course, but when they got to the door, and the man took out the key, she began to sway. She wobbled dangerously on her heels, and just as the man unlocked the door, she fell. He spun round, catching her waist, and lifted her up into his arms. She laughed, and squealed as he kissed her.

"Stop it!" she giggled, as he trailed kisses down her neck. "Ty! Stooooooop! _Tyler! _Put me d-"

But her cries were muffled by his mouth on hers again. She smiled, leaning into the kiss, as he carried her into the hotel room, shoving the door closed with his foot.

The door slammed loudly, and then there was silence.

Well there was no doubt about it now. Elena and Bonnie turned to each other, their worried looks mirroring the other perfectly. Tyler was cheating on Caroline, and probably had been for a while, by the looks of things. And they knew.

They _knew._

* * *

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	10. Chapter Ten: Not Sorry

**Hey guys!**

**I know, I know, you want more Klaroline, and I'm sorry. But literally, we are ONE chapter away from the beginning of all the drama, and that's where the real story starts. Then again, there's a little drama in this chapter too, so . . .**

**Anyway, I just wanted to say pleeeeeeeeeeease keep reviewing. I know you're getting bored, but I promise you that Klaroline is on its way. I need you to keep reviewing, because it lets me know that people are still interested, and still reading. I'd still carry on the story even if there was only one reviewer, but I'd be able to put a lot more faith into it if I had a few more reviews.**

**Thanks to;**

**Grace5231973, WeasleysGroupie, arielmermaid, and IrishBeauty294.**

**Also, I'm sorry this is a little late, but I was away for a while. Okay, bye!**

**Enjoy!**

**Megan**

**oxox**

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* * *

"Sorry I'm late,"

Anna ducked her head around the office door, and Caroline smiled brightly. She entered the room quickly, with her head bowed, though Caroline could see she was trying to hide a smile. It didn't take a genius to guess where she'd been, or who she'd been with. But Caroline wasn't annoyed. She felt closer to these patients than she'd been to any others in the past. She felt like she knew them on a much more personal level, as if they were almost her friends. She never told anyone this though, it wasn't allowed.

"It's fine, honestly." Caroline replied, getting up out of her desk chair, and moving over to the green plastic one by the table. She always had to sit closer to Anna, as her voice was so small and quiet, that it was a little hard to hear at times.

Anna smiled, and moved to sit on the chair across from Caroline. She was dressed in a tight, black hoodie and jeans, her long, black hair falling around her shoulders. She pulled her sleeves down over her arms, which was obviously to hide her scars. Although everyone at the institute knew about her Impulse Control Disorder, for obvious reasons, she still hid her scars. She was very insecure about them when she was in the right state of mind, and hid them behind long sleeves and gloves.

She hadn't hurt herself now though for weeks, which was a good sign. All of the patients were showing signs of improvement, which was great, as that meant eventually they could leave, and there'd be more room on the unit. Of course there was some part of Caroline that didn't want them to leave. She wanted to be able to make sure that they were okay, which she couldn't do if they ever became well enough to leave. But helping them get out was her job, and the sense of pride she would inevitably feel when they did, was enough.

"You weren't with Jeremy by any chance, were you?" she asked, and Anna blushed a bright red. She pushed some hair out of her eyes, and looked away, a small smile appearing on her lips. Caroline rolled her eyes playfully, but then sighed, suddenly turning serious. She leaned over to Anna, and Anna looked back at her, sensing there was something Caroline wished to discuss. "You know . . . he's getting a lot better, Anna . . . he'll probably be ready to leave in a few months' time . . ."

"Yeah, he's doing a lot better . . ." Anna replied, looking a little confused. She didn't really know where Caroline was going with this, but she could tell by her tone that it wasn't good. She pushed her hair to the side, and leaned towards Caroline.

"I'm only saying that . . . when he leaves, that could . . . well it could trigger some things . . . for you," she said, and Anna sighed, finally understanding what it was that Caroline was trying to say. She nodded, leaning back. "I just want to know that when he does leave . . . that you'll be okay. You don't really know that many other people here, and I know how . . . close you and Jeremy are. I'm only saying, just . . . try not to let your feelings for him be the only thing defining you."

"I know, but I just . . ." Anna began, but Caroline interrupted her. She had to say this, it was important.

"I know you don't really know any of the others, and you find it hard to talk to people, but you can't just rely on Jeremy all the time. The fact is Anna, that he's going to leave, and you'll still be here. You're nowhere near as close to leaving as he is, and when he leaves, and you're here by yourself . . . there's no telling what you'll do. And it's not your fault. Obviously, it's not your fault. But that doesn't make it any less true.

All I'm asking, is that you try to . . . not detach yourself, I'm not saying that. But just . . . prepare yourself, okay? Focus on _you, _and on getting better. That's what's really important. And then, you can be healthy again, and go home. And you can be with Jeremy again without having to worry about any of these things. So that's all I'm saying. I just think it's important right now that you get the help that you need, because the next few weeks are going to be difficult."

Anna nodded, her good mood rapidly vanishing. Caroline wished she hadn't had to say any of that, but it was something she'd been meaning to discuss with Anna for a while. And she wouldn't have brought it up if it wasn't important. It was better that Anna was aware of the risks to her anyway. Things would be a lot worse if she weren't. Tears began to form in Anna's eyes, and her foot began to tap impatiently against the floor. Caroline could tell she was trying hard not to cry and/or scream, but she didn't know what to say anymore.

But before she could say anything, Anna was out of the door, slamming it loudly behind her.

* * *

Caroline entered her apartment quietly, closing the door behind her. She wasn't sure whether Tyler would be home or not, as it was the middle of the night. Still, if he was, she didn't want to wake him. It had been a long day at work, she'd had to sort out Jeremy's file in order for him to leave in a few months. There were a lot of forms to be filled out, and a lot of tests to be done, before they could be sure he was ready to leave. And after she'd done that, she'd had to see Klaus, who wasn't talking to her. No change there.

"Tyler?" she called out, and there was a low grumble from the bedroom. She shook her head, not even bothering to go in and see him. She wasn't in the mood for him right now. And she wasn't in the mood to sleep either. She was wide awake, and needed something to distract herself.

She threw herself down on the sofa, kicking off her shoes in the process. She reached for the TV remote, and turned it on, over to some random channel. The TV didn't quite manage to drown out her thoughts though, and for some reason, all she could think about was Klaus. She thought he'd been distant with her before, but this time . . . something was different. He wouldn't even look at her, and his security had told her that he refused to come to any sessions, so they had to drag him there.

She knew it was something to do with Jenna, and the fact that she'd brought it up. Obviously, he felt guilty about what happened to her, and didn't want to talk about it again. It must have been a very painful subject for him, and Caroline cursed herself for not handling the situation a little more delicately. It wasn't his fault, she knew that. And she also knew that she should have handled it better.

Another session was scheduled for tomorrow, so she hoped to make up for it then.

Just then, a sharp beep interrupted Caroline's thoughts. She turned the TV off, and looked to the table at her side. Lay there, glowing bright and blue, was Tyler's phone. He had a text.

Now normally, Caroline would _never _have picked up her fiancé's phone. It was a breach of his privacy, and he really wouldn't like it. But unfortunately, curiosity got the better of her, and she did. She was only curious. She wanted to know who'd be texting him at this time of night. It couldn't be anyone from work, or any of his friends, so who was it?

She unlocked the phone, and opened the text.

**_Where are you, baby?.x - H_**

Caroline's eyes widened. Who was this woman that was texting Tyler? And where was it that he was supposed to be that was more important?

Before she could think any better of it, Caroline closed the text, and looked at the name of the sender. _Hayley. _She moved over to his call logs, and looked at the list of people he'd called and texted in the past month. At the top, it gave her the list of people he contacted the most, and how many times he'd contacted them. _Hayley _was right at the top of that list. Caroline's eyes moved over to the number in brackets next to her name.

_600 times._

He'd called and texted her _600 times. _That was a lot more times than he'd contacted Caroline, as she was closer to the bottom of the list. Determined to now find out more about this woman, Caroline looked at Tyler's inbox. And there, it had another list, of all the conversations that he'd had with his contacts. Once again, Hayley was at the top. The most recent.

Caroline opened the conversation without a second thought, and scrolled right to the top. It only went as far back as the last sixteen messages sent between the two of them, but she was sure that would be enough.

**_- _****Tuesday, 17:00 -**

**_Are you ready?.x - H_**

**Yep. Where are we meeting? - T**

**_Bar then motel?.x - H_**

**Sure. See you there at seven. - T**

**- Wednesday, 21:00 -**

**_I can't stop thinking about last night.x - H_**

**Me neither. - T**

**_When can I see you again?.x - H_**

**Tomorrow. - T**

**-Today, 10:00 -**

**_I'm leaving town for a few days next week.x - H_**

**What am I going to do now? - T**

**_I guess we'll just have to make the most of the time we have right now.x - H ;)_**

**Motel? - T**

**_What time?.x - H_**

**22:00? - T**

**_Sure.x - H_**

**- Today, 22:15 -**

**_Where are you, baby?.x - H_**

That was the last text sent, but Caroline didn't need to read anymore. It was pretty clear what was going on, and to be honest, she felt foolish for not noticing it from the beginning. It had been so _obvious, _all the sneaking around, coming in late, all the arguments. And maybe she had known, deep down. Maybe on some subconscious level, this had already occurred to her, and she'd just chosen to ignore it.

It didn't come as much of a shock to her. All she felt was disgust.

She tightened her grip around the phone, put her shoes back on, and headed into the bedroom.

* * *

"What the _hell _is this?!" Caroline yelled, throwing the door to the bedroom open. It hit the wall behind it with a very loud _thud, _causing Tyler to jump up in the bed. She flicked the lights on, and Tyler pulled the sheets tighter around himself, feeling slightly exposed, and not entirely sure what was going on. "You know, I'm not surprised that you were cheating Tyler, I suspected that all along. I'm surprised that you were so careless about it!"

"Slow down," Tyler mumbled, sitting up in bed, and rubbing his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about!" she cried, her knuckles turning white as she clenched the phone in her fist. "Did you think I wouldn't find out? Did you think you could keep it from me? What about when we got married? Were you going to tell me then? Or were you going to leave me at the altar and run off with this slut?"

"She's not a slut," he objected, and Caroline could barely even contain her anger.

"So much for not knowing what I was talking about!" she scoffed, beginning to pace around the room. "You know, I thought you would've at least had the decency to apologize. But then again, that was never really your style, was it darling? I loved you, you know. I did. But I don't think you ever really loved me. You couldn't have, look at you! I find out you've been cheating on me for God knows how long, and all you can do is sit there and defend the slut you were cheating on me with!"

"I told you, she's not a slut!" Tyler got up out of the bed, and threw the sheets onto the floor. He was shirtless, and wearing only a pair of sweatpants. "She . . . she didn't know . . . about you. She didn't know about you."

"You lied to both of us?" Caroline asked, and Tyler nodded, looking down at the floor. "Well I never thought I'd be saying this, but I feel sorry for the girl. At least I already had _some _idea of what was going on. I felt nothing for you _before _I found out about this, and now I feel even less. But this girl . . . she had no idea. How long has this been going on? Is she in love with you?"

"Ever since we got back to Mystic Falls," Tyler replied. Three months. They'd been together three months. "As for her being in love with me . . . yeah, she is. She only ever admitted it once when she was drunk, but . . . I think she does . . . love me, that is."

"And do you love her?"

"No," Tyler sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "It was just sex, Care. It never meant anything, I promise. I just . . . I felt lonely, you know? I needed someone, and, well, she was there. We never really gave the relationship a label, but I think she knew that's all it was. It was nothing compared to what we have . . ."

"What _we _have?!" Caroline gave a dark laugh, throwing her hands in the air. "We have _nothing, _Tyler. Nothing. Whatever we _might've _had is gone. It's been gone for a while, and I think we both knew that. But none of that excuses the fact that you did something absolutely _disgusting. _You lied to me, you cheated on me, you left me when I needed you the most, but you also lied to that girl. You led her on, and right now, she's the only person I feel sorry for.

So you go and find that girl. Find her, and tell her everything. Tell her the _truth. _She deserves it just as much as I do. Tell her what you did, and how disgusting it was. Tell her you were wrong, you're sorry, whatever. But don't you _dare _come back here ever again. I don't want to ever have to see you again, do you understand me? I may not love you Tyler, but at least I _tried."_

"Care, come on," Tyler began, stepping towards her. He went to wrap his arms around her, but she pushed him away. As he spoke, she began working her engagement ring off of her finger. "I'm sorry. It was a mistake, I understand that now. It'll never happen again -"

"Don't touch me." she spat, pushing him away from her again. She threw the ring and the phone at his bare chest, which was almost as effective as the hard slap across the face she gave him seconds later. "I'm going to stay the night at a friend's house. Don't come after me. Don't call me, text me, or e-mail me. Nothing. I never want to hear from you, talk to you, or see you again. Call your parents, friends, colleagues I don't care. Find somewhere to stay, and start looking for a place out of town, because you're not welcome here anymore. By the time I come back tomorrow morning, you'll be gone. Is that clear?"

Tyler nodded sombrely, watching as Caroline stormed out of the apartment door and, out of his life.

* * *

**Let me know what you thought! REVIEW! :D**


	11. Chapter Eleven: Progress

**Hey guys!**

**Thank you _so_ much for all of feedback on the last chapter! It really does mean a lot, as I just like to know that you're interested. Honestly, whatever you have to say, even if it's criticism, it's fine! Just as long as it's respectful and polite, obviously.**

**I'm really excited for all of you to read this chapter, as it's something I'm particularly proud of. It took a few attempts to write this, because I wanted it to be perfect, but I'm proud of it now. It was an idea that I came up with very early on, and I've been waiting all this time to write it, because I know that you'll love it. Or, at least, I hope you will!**

**Also, this story has now reached OVER 100 REVIEWS and also OVER 100 FOLLOWERS! Thank you _so_ much! I honestly didn't think this story would do that well, as I didn't really have a lot of faith in it in the beginning. But after getting this amazing response from you guys, I have a lot more faith in this story, and can't wait for you guys to see the next few chapters!**

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**Megan :)**

**oxox**

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* * *

Caroline rang Bonnie's doorbell, trying desperately to be quiet. It was the middle of the night, and she didn't want to wake up any of her neighbours. She'd rather not be waking up Bonnie either, but she didn't really have a choice. She couldn't stay at the motel, because she'd left most of her money at the flat, as she wasn't even sure she ever wanted to go near that particular motel again, knowing what Tyler had been doing there. She couldn't sleep in her car because there wasn't enough room, and she couldn't go to Elena, because she lived with Damon as well, and she didn't want to intrude. She hadn't even been able to drive anywhere, because she'd had a few drinks after work. Bonnie was pretty much her only option.

She breathed a sigh of relief, as the door flew open to reveal her best friend. The look on Bonnie's face told her what she already knew; she looked a mess.

She hadn't really had much time to sort herself out on the way over, and had only just caught a glimpse of her reflection in the glass of Bonnie's door. Her mascara was running down her face, mixing with her tears, her hair was a mess from constantly running her fingers through it, and the straps of her top were falling down. Not only that, but one of the heels of her shoe was almost falling off from the walk over there.

Bonnie took one look at her, and pulled her into a hug, which Caroline gladly accepted. Bonnie took her into the house, closing the door quietly behind her. This was what Caroline loved about Bonnie, was that she always cared. No matter who it was, what it was about, or what time it was, she was always there. And she was sure that she'd be grateful for that in the long run.

She sat Caroline down on the sofa, and put a blanket around her shoulders, sitting on a chair across from her. Ironically, it felt much like one of Caroline's sessions with her patients, and she had to resist the urge to laugh. Because now she was the one that needed to talk, she was the one with the problem, the one that needed fixing. She was the one that was broken.

Maybe that was why she'd chosen the job in the first place? Broken people need other broken people.

"What happened?" Bonnie asked, handing Caroline a mug of hot cocoa. She accepted it with a smile and a nod, and took the mug into her hands. And she felt warm, and safe. She drank the cocoa, and the smell made her think of home. She didn't get that feeling with Tyler, or back at her apartment. It wasn't home, and it didn't feel safe, or warm. It just felt cold, in every sense of the word. She felt cold.

"Tyler, he . . . he's been cheating on me," Caroline muttered, taking another sip of her cocoa, and not looking at Bonnie. She felt ashamed. Like she should have known. Because she should have. It was obvious right from the first day they got back to Mystic Falls that something was going on. She'd been told countless times by people that she should have left him. But she never had, just out of habit. Out of a need that she couldn't explain. Until tonight.

When Bonnie didn't reply, Caroline looked up from her mug, to see that she didn't look at all shocked or surprised. Instead, she almost looked . . . guilty. She sighed, refusing to look Caroline in the eye, and she instantly knew that something wasn't quite right. She put her mug down on the table in front of her, and shrugged the blanket off her shoulders, leaning forwards.

"You knew, didn't you?" she asked, not sounding angry or annoyed. More defeated. Bonnie nodded slowly, and turned to look at Caroline, her eyes full of regret. "How long? . . . How long did you know for?"

"We only found out a few days ago, I swear! We saw them going into a motel together, but we were just waiting for the right time to-" Bonnie began, but Caroline interrupted her, cutting her off.

"We?" she questioned, and now she was getting angry. Because the idea of more than one person knowing before her and not saying anything, was almost unbearable. She knew that if it had happened to one of her friends, she would've told them right away. It was something that people deserved to know. "Who else knew? Damon? Stefan? Elena? Matt? Who else, Bonnie?"

"Just Elena. The two of us saw them going into the motel together." Bonnie explained, looking Caroline right in the eye. The blonde calmed, after seeing the sincere look in her friend's eyes. "We were going to tell you eventually, I promise. We just knew how much it would hurt you, so we were waiting for the right time. Not that there every really would be a right time, but . . . we weren't thinking. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Caroline whispered, reaching over to Bonnie, and taking her hand. She squeezed it reassuringly, and they both smiled. "Besides, you have nothing to be sorry for. You were just trying to protect me, and I understand completely. Now I've got work in the morning, so is there anywhere I can sleep?"

* * *

The next day, Caroline went on as normal. She woke up, got dressed, had breakfast. She went to work, and acted just as she had the day before. And the day before that, and the day before that. As if nothing had happened, nothing at all. No one seemed to notice the absence of her engagement ring, the fact that she'd walked to work that morning, or the sadness behind her eyes that she tried so desperately to hide. Or it they did, they didn't say anything. But then again, she gave them no reason to suspect that anything was wrong. She plastered a smile on her face, and got on with it, just as she should. As if nothing had changed.

This was wrong, of course. Everything had changed.

She hadn't gone back to the apartment yet, she was giving Tyler the rest of the day to get his things together. If he was still there when she got back, if he tried to apologize, then she'd just tell him to leave. This was the last straw, and she wasn't going to be taking him back this time. But then, it was unlikely he'd still be there at all. He wasn't that stupid. He knew it was over.

Caroline sat in her office, Klaus on the chair in front of her. He was curled up in his usual position, his knees tucked under his chin. He was looking up out of the window again, and it was raining as usual. And, as expected, he hadn't said a word since he entered the room. She'd gotten used to it now, the silence was quite relaxing. But she had begun to wonder if he was ever going to speak to her at all. Alaric was relying on her to find out the reason he'd come to the institute, but she couldn't do that if he refused to speak to her.

Not only that, but she was also running out of things to write about him. He wasn't making any progress, and soon enough, she'd run out of things to write about him completely. And that was when things would get complicated. There would be no point in their sessions if he didn't start making progress soon, and Caroline wasn't sure what would happen after that, as this had never happened to her before.

In all senses, Klaus was quite unlike any patient she'd ever had before.

Caroline scribbled away in her notebook, writing about anything she could. Today, she'd decided to take notes on his clothes. Whenever he came into her office, on bad days, he never wore shoelaces. She assumed this was because they were taken off him. This was standard procedure when a patient was having a bad day, so that they couldn't hang themselves. He was wearing shoelaces today, so that was a good sign. He was dressed in all black, and was constantly pulling his sleeves over his knuckles, a sign of nerves or insecurity.

As she continued to write, Caroline reached across the table, picking up the coffee Bonnie had given her this morning. She raised it to her lips, and took a small sip, feeling a small surge of energy flood her. Coffee always did that to her first thing in the morning.

"Where's your ring?"

Her pen fell back onto the notebook, and Caroline had to try _very _hard not to spit out the coffee she'd been drinking. She put the cup down quickly, and began coughing, the coffee having gotten stuck in her throat. She hit her chest lightly, and coughed again, clearing her throat. Her eyes widened, and she looked up . . . to see Klaus staring right back at her.

It wasn't the intense stare that he gave her on occasion. This was different. His head was cocked to the side curiously, and his eyes were searching and encouraging. Almost kind.

Caroline looked down at her hands. She'd almost forgotten all about Tyler and her ring. She'd kept herself distracted all day from thinking about it. It was too painful, and she didn't want to feel like that in work, and for that feeling to rub off on the patients. It could trigger things for them, things that Caroline didn't want to risk. But somehow, Klaus mentioning it felt . . . okay.

"I . . . my, um . . . my fiancé and I, we, um . . . we broke up." she stuttered, unsure as to quite what was going on. She'd waited weeks for this to happen, for Klaus to finally speak to her. To say _anything. _And now that it was happening, she didn't really know what to say. She knew she shouldn't be answering his questions. They were too personal, and her sessions with him were supposed to be about his problems, not hers.

"Why?"

When he spoke, he seemed much less menacing than before. His English accent was soft, and kind, so far removed from the man Caroline had seen a few days ago, having to be strapped down to the bed. His voice was warm, and welcoming, and Caroline felt like she could tell him anything. It was supposed to be the other way round, but it seemed that wasn't working. She couldn't get him to tell her anything, and if this was the only way she was going to get him to talk to her, then so be it.

"I, um . . . I found out he was cheating on me," she muttered, looking down at the desk. She could pretend all she wanted that it didn't matter, that nothing had happened, or that she'd be better off without him, but it _did _matter. And she still cared, no matter how much she liked to think that she didn't. And it hurt. It hurt that after everything he'd done to her, everything she'd heard, everything he'd said . . . that he could still get to her like this.

"I'm sorry." he replied, and Caroline tell that he meant it. _Really _meant it. And that meant something to her. She didn't know why, as she was sure she'd hear countless people telling her how sorry they were over the next few weeks. But this was different. None of those people would actually _feel _sorry for what happened. It was nothing to do with them, they didn't really care. But Caroline somehow felt that he did.

"I . . . thank you,"

It was strange, how comfortable she felt with him. She wasn't supposed to feel that way, he was a patient. She was supposed to care about him, sure. She was supposed to be interested in his wellbeing but nothing more. She was supposed to be completely indifferent towards him otherwise. But she found she just couldn't be that way with him. She also knew that she shouldn't be sharing these things with him. She wasn't stupid, she knew that it wouldn't end well. But for some reason, she didn't care. She was willing to take the risk.

Because she needed him to talk to her, to trust her. So that she could find out what it was that he was hiding.

She told herself that's all it was. She just wanted to help him, to discover what it was that was causing him so much trauma. She told herself that there was nothing else behind it. And maybe there wasn't. But it certainly didn't feel that way. She was telling him these things because she _wanted _to, because it felt like she could trust him. Like he understood, like he _cared._

And for a moment, she forgot that he was her patient. And that was a dangerous thing.

She should've stopped herself before it got to that point. She shouldn't have answered him, she should've just left it. Because now it was too late to go back. And maybe a part of her should have known he moment she met him that this would happen. That she wouldn't be able to stop the situation from getting out of control, as it inevitably would. Because it was too late now. She was too wrapped up in the mystery of him.

"I wouldn't."

"What?" Caroline looked up, to see Klaus still watching her. Often, when he looked at her, she saw the same expression in his eyes that she often wore when looking at him. A look of confusion, and curiosity, and intrigue. It wasn't uncommon that she would catch him studying her, or she'd catch him doing the same. Each of them didn't quite understand the other, but they were willing to try.

He wasn't studying her now though. In fact, the look he was giving her was one that Caroline wasn't sure she'd seen before. It was a look of complete honesty, so stripped back, so vulnerable, and so raw, that Caroline felt unable to look away. There was a small, sad smile playing on his lips, and Caroline was praying that he chose his next words very carefully.

"If I were him, I wouldn't."

* * *

**Well? Review, please? :D**


	12. Chapter Twelve: Very Bad Indeed

**Hey guys!**

**Thanks for all of your amazing reviews! I'm glad you liked the last chapter, as I was really excited to share it, and I know a lot of you were quite shocked by it. Still, you seemed to love it anyway, which is good!**

**And I'm happy to say that this is where the story really begins. One of you asked why I spent so much time on the Tyler storyline, and I honestly don't know. I felt I needed to include him in the story somehow, and that felt like the best way. Plus, I thought it would be a good way for them to talk for the first time.**

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**Jwakeel, Angel, DarknessQueen12, Girl96xoxo, cupcakesweetheart5, louann97, Aaaamber, WeasleysGroupie, IrishBeauty294, hallie, dendragon14, arielmermaid, 1998baby, Kaylabeth21, Grace5231973, shadowfaxangel, wendar, nabskyy, and Tanika.**

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**Megan :)**

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* * *

Caroline sat in her office, waiting for Klaus to come in. Their appointment had been scheduled for five minutes ago, and she was getting worried. Klaus was hardly ever late, at least not anymore. Ever since they'd loosened his security again, he'd been showing up _early _to their sessions. He'd be there before she was, most of the time, as soon as she walked into her office. But today, he hadn't been there when she walked in, and now he was five minutes late.

In any other circumstances, this wouldn't have been something to worry about. But patients needed patterns in their lives, they needed timetables, and schedules. If they felt like they had some kind of order in their lives, it made them keep themselves in order, and calmed them down. This was an irregularity, and they were bad, especially for patients like Klaus.

Of course, it could just be nothing. Maybe he went to the bathroom, or he woke up late? Maybe there was nothing to worry about at all, and Caroline was just overreacting. Then she remembered, as she looked up at the clock for the millionth time. It was visiting hours right now. Perhaps someone had come to visit Klaus, and he'd just lost track of time? Visiting hours ended any minute now, so Caroline had no doubt that he'd be back soon.

She breathed a sigh of relief, and leaned back in her chair.

It was a few days since Klaus had spoken to her now, and she still couldn't quite believe that it'd happened. She'd waited for so long, that it hardly even felt real. But it must have been, because the sound of his voice was echoing around her head constantly. Ever since it'd happened, it was all she could think about, and she'd had enough trouble not thinking about him anyway, now it was a whole lot worse. She just couldn't stop thinking about what he'd said.

_"If I were him, I wouldn't."_

She knew what he'd meant, but the idea was ridiculous. It was against the law to start a relationship with a patient, and even if it wasn't . . . Caroline shook her head. Maybe that wasn't even what he meant? Maybe he was just trying to be nice? Just because he'd said a few nice words to her, it didn't mean that he was after anything, that he thought of her in that way . . .

But then she remembered the drawing. The drawing of her, that she found on his desk. It still didn't make any sense, how he could copy her features so perfectly when, as far as she was aware, he'd hardly even looked at her. Unless he _had _been looking at her, just when she looked away. Unless he had feelings for her.

He couldn't though . . . could he? He hardly even knew her, they'd had _one _conversation, and that was only a few days ago. He couldn't have feelings for someone he didn't even know, it was a ridiculous thought, of course. But then, what other explanation was there? Why else would he be drawing pictures of her? And saying all those things that he'd said? Why else, if he didn't have feelings for her?

As she heard footsteps coming towards her office, she resolved not to mention it. If he did have feelings for her, then he had feelings for her, it didn't change anything. As long as he didn't choose to _act _on those feelings, then it didn't matter. People often developed feelings for people that helped them, and listened to them, especially people with a need for human companionship, much like the rest of the patients. They were completely cut off from the rest of the world, it was only natural that they'd feel some sort of attachment to the only person that seemed to really care.

So she wouldn't mention it, as long as he didn't.

The door opened, and she looked at her computer, pretending to be typing something. As Klaus entered the room, she instantly knew something was wrong. He didn't say anything, slamming the door behind him. The sound echoed around the silent room, and the vibration even shook Caroline's desk a little. She looked up from her computer, and saw him standing by the door, breathing heavily.

He didn't sit down, and she didn't say anything. She just sat there, looking at him with wide eyes.

It was as if she wasn't even in the room. He paid her no attention whatsoever, just stood by the door, and began to run his fingers through his hair. He repeated this motion several times, his chest rising and falling rapidly. He then began clutching at strands of his hair, and pulling at them, balling his hands up into fists, and shaking his head. His facial features twisted and contorted into pain and anger, and Caroline's heartbeat began to race.

He walked into the centre of the room, and leaned on the table right in the middle. He put his head down, and tried in vain to slow his breathing. Caroline had no idea what was going on, but rose out of her chair, and stood back against the wall. She wasn't foolish enough to approach him, not yet. She thought that if she left him for a minute, he might be able to calm himself down, and they could talk.

He gripped the side of the table tightly, screwing his eyes tightly shut. His breathing slowed somewhat, but he wasn't looking anymore calm than he had been coming in. Whatever it was that'd happened, it had clearly gotten to him, and Caroline was beginning to think that he wasn't just angry.

A side-effect of his PTSD, would be flashbacks, visions, and memories. And she had a strong suspicion that that's what he was having right now. He was flashing back to whatever traumatic event had brought him here in the first place, and that could _not _be good. Already, Caroline could see he was beginning to lose control. She could tell he was trying as hard as he could to stay calm, to make it stop. But it wasn't working.

She should've called for help then, but she didn't.

Gripping the table, he flipped it over, causing everything to go crashing to the floor. The table hit the floor with a resounding thud, and Caroline backed even further up against the wall. Klaus looked down at the wrecked table, his fists clenched and his breathing heavy once more. Although his stance was threatening, his eyes had clouded over, full of confusion and pain.

He kicked the turned over table out of his way, and ran over to the filing cabinet, throwing it to the floor with a loud, echoing scream. It hit the floor with a clang of metal, but the drawers remained closed. Caroline was sure somebody must have heard all the noise by now, yet no one came to help. They probably just assumed someone was taking care of it. Or maybe there was a more pressing situation elsewhere in the hospital.

Eventually, Klaus had thrown all of the filing cabinets to the floor, but he still wasn't done. He looked around wildly, for something else to throw, something to hit, or break, just . . . something. He ran over to the wall, where there was a hung-up picture of some sunflowers. Caroline had never much cared for that picture, but she still flinched when Klaus hit it against the wall with all his strength.

The sound of the glass shattering reminded her of the bottle that Tyler had thrown.

_"Klaus!" _she screamed, barely even aware that she was doing it. But it was as if he couldn't even hear her.

The glass broke into tiny pieces, flying everywhere. Caroline was on the other side of the room, so none of it got to her. But Klaus wasn't so lucky. The glass cut through his skin like butter. He had several cuts on his hands already from all the other objects he'd been throwing around, but now his cheek was bleeding from an (admittedly shallow) cut that the glass had given him.

He smeared the blood from his hands on his shirt, before turning to Caroline. He ran towards her desk in a wild rage, and Caroline whimpered, curling herself up in a ball on the floor. She covered her head with her hands, trying to protect herself as Klaus looked around the room again. There was another picture, hanging on the wall next to her desk. She cared for this picture even less. Klaus ran over to it, and hurled it against the wall.

_"Klaus, p-please . . . stop," _she whimpered as the picture frame hit the wall.

It shattered just inches away from Caroline. The glass and broken frame fell to the floor, and Caroline was left completely unharmed, much to her relief. She still cowered next to the wall, not wanting to risk looking up. She heard Klaus walking around the room, and the sound of his breathing, which was slowing down somewhat now. He made his way back toward her desk, stopping just in front of it.

She lifted her head from her knees, and looked up at him. He picked up an item from her desk, about to hurl it against the wall just like the others, before realizing what it was.

Since Tyler had left her apartment, Caroline had thought it fitting to get rid of any and all pictures she had of him. She'd broken them all before throwing them away, and buying some new picture frames. Even the picture of him in her office had been replaced. Replaced with the one that Klaus now held in his hand.

Instead of the picture of her and Tyler together, it was now a picture of Caroline, Elena, and Bonnie on their graduation day. Caroline was in the middle, holding the camera with one of her hands. She was grinning widely, with Bonnie on her left and Elena on her right. They were all wearing their scarlet graduation robes, and Elena was pouting, striking a model pose. Bonnie did the same, and Caroline was just left in the middle laughing at the two of them.

Klaus lowered his hand holding the picture, and held the frame in his two hands. He traced Caroline's face with his thumb, and lifted a finger to run over her smile.

And then, it was as if someone had flipped a switch. He put the picture down on the table, and looked over at Caroline, who was still crouched on the floor. His eyes widened in shock, and he looked around the room, at the damage that he had done. He shook his head, and made a small, disbelieving sound. He turned back to Caroline, looking down at the floor in a daze. Tears began to form in his eyes, and he fell to his knees, landing in a pile of glass.

As he hit the floor, the tears began to roll down his cheeks, mixing with the blood from his cuts. The tears came slowly at first, and his hands fell limp at his sides.

Caroline began to uncurl herself, and tucked her hair behind her ear. She leaned forward tentatively, to look into his eyes. As soon as she saw the tears on his face, she sighed, crawling towards him. She waited until she was sat right in front of him, looking up at his face, and then spoke.

". . . Klaus?" she asked, and he looked down, tears still falling down his face. She sighed again, and kneeled in front of him, practically mirroring his actions. She tried to look him in the eye, but he was just looking at the floor, as if in a trance.

Suddenly, Caroline's instincts took over. She no longer cared about the rules, or about what she should and shouldn't do. This man was hurting, and needed some comfort, some reassuring. It would be inhuman just to leave him there, a crumpled heap on her floor. Only someone completely heartless could look at this broken man and not try to do _something _to try and fix him.

Carefully, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and placed her head on his shoulder, holding him in a tight embrace.

It took him a moment to respond, and Caroline wasn't sure if he even really knew what was going on. But after a few seconds, he wound his arms around her waist, and pulled her to him, burying his head in her shoulder. His weight was a little too much for her to take, as he was leaning on her completely, so she sat back down on the floor, her legs tucked underneath her. He did the same, sobbing into her shoulder.

As he cried, Caroline placed one of her hands in his hair, running her fingers through it reassuringly.

"Shhhhh," she soothed as he cried, his whole body shaking. "It's okay . . . it's okay . . . it's all over now. It's all over . . ."

* * *

Later that day, Caroline unlocked the door to her apartment, phone in hand. It had been a long day at work today, and she was glad to come back to a quiet flat for once. Usually, she'd be waiting up for Tyler, worrying about him, or she'd be greeted by a shout from him, the beginning of an argument. But not anymore, and she'd never have to come back to that ever again. And she'd be lying if she said that wasn't a little bit exciting.

Closing the door behind her, she took off her coat, hanging it up, and kicked off her shoes. The other bonus to now living alone: she didn't have to be neat and tidy again. It was like being a teenager all over again, and she kind of loved it. She could do whatever she wanted, even if it was just leaving her shoes in the hallway. But it meant so much more than that. She was free.

She made her way into the dining room, and sat down at the table. Despite being home, and about to relax, there was one phone call that she had to make. It had been bothering her all day, but she was too scared to discuss it at work, just in case. It wasn't exactly a conversation for the phone, but it would have to do.

She scrolled through her contacts, before finding the number she was looking for. She pressed the green button, and waited for Meredith to answer.

_"Hello?"_

"Hi, Meredith. It's me, Caroline." she said, and she could hear rustling on the other side of the phone. She looked over to the clock on the wall. _10:30. _It was kind of late, but Meredith probably left work after Caroline did. She tended to work quite late into the night, and she might even still be at work now. "Listen, there's something I wanted to ask you. I know it's late but, could you spare a few minutes?"

_"Sure, what is it? Is everything okay?"_

"Everything's fine. It's . . . it's about Klaus," Caroline replied, and she heard Meredith sigh on the other side of the phone, stopping whatever she was doing previously. "There's nothing to worry about, well, not really, it's just . . . well . . ."

_"What happened, Caroline?"_

"He flipped out again. It was only for a few minutes, but it was just after lunch. We had a session scheduled, and he was a few minutes late. I didn't think anything of it at first, as I remembered it was just after visiting hours. But then when he came in . . . he was manic. I don't even think he knew what he was doing . . ."

_"What did he do?"_

"He trashed my office," she mumbled, and she heard Meredith gasp. "It's okay though, I managed to fix most of it. He only flipped the table and threw a few things. Nothing was really damaged, just a few picture frames, but they're easily replaced. He did have a few cuts though, on his hands and on his face. I cleaned them up for him though, don't worry. He's fine now."

_"How did you get him to calm down?"_

"I . . . I didn't do anything. He just . . . stopped."

_"Caroline, that's not possible. No one's ever been able to calm him down, _ever. _The only thing that works is sedating him, and leaving him for a few hours. Are you sure you didn't do anything?"_

"Not that I know of . . ." Caroline trailed off.

_"Perhaps it was just a coincidence. What did you want to ask me, anyway?"_

"I was just wondering if you might know why it happened?" she asked, drumming her fingers on the table top. "I think he was experiencing one of his flashbacks, and it just . . . got to him. I know this is common with PTSD, but isn't it usually triggered by something? I was just wondering if anything happened prior to our session that may have triggered it? Did anyone come to visit him, or . . . ?"

_"Well Rebekah and Elijah did come to visit him during visiting hours . . . but I walked past them a few times, and they seemed fine . . ."_

"Maybe it was just being with them that triggered it?"

_"Maybe. Listen, Caroline I have to go . . ."_

"Alright, we'll talk more tomorrow."

_"Bye."_

As soon as Caroline hung up the phone, she remembered. She remembered what it was that had stopped Klaus earlier. He'd picked up a picture from her desk. A picture of her. He'd taken one look at it, one look at her face, and he'd stopped. And the way that he'd looked at her when he realized what he'd done . . . so horrified, so scared, so apologetic. Not because he'd wrecked her office, not because he'd yelled. But because he almost hurt her.

_No one's ever been able to calm him down, _ever.

For some reason, she was different to the rest of them. She wasn't like the other doctors, and councillors that Klaus had had before. But then again, she should have known that from the off. The not talking to her. The picture she'd found in his room. The laugh when she spoke about his sister. And all those things he'd said when he'd noticed her ring had gone missing.

He was treating her differently. He _felt _differently about her.

This was bad, incredibly bad. A patient being attached to their councillor was something that could be dealt with, but Caroline was beginning to think it was more than that. _Much _more than that. Whether he had feelings for her or not, she couldn't exactly say, but she could no longer deny that he felt _something _for her. Even if all it was, was a curious fascination.

But she also couldn't deny that she felt drawn to him.

In what way, she didn't really know, but there was just something about him that interested her, something that she didn't _understand. _He wasn't like her, he wasn't like any of her other patients, he wasn't even like anyone that she'd ever met before. He was different. He was new. And that scared her beyond belief. But even scarier than that was the pull that was drawing her to him.

He clearly felt it too, that much was obvious from the past few days.

There was something going on between them, and it could not lead to anything good.

It was bad.

Very bad indeed.

* * *

**Well? Let me know what you thought, review! :D**


	13. Chapter Thirteen: Apologetic

**Hey guys!**

**So sorry for the delay, I had a lot of things to do, and a few other things to write. I'm glad you all liked the last chapter, it was quite an exciting one to write. Hopefully, you'll enjoy this one as well, but obviously, we'll have to see. There's still a _little _bit of drama, but I'm not particularly proud of this chapter. It's not really that great, but it's going to get better, I promise.**

**Also, I changed the name of my tumblr, just in case any of you were wondering.**

**Thanks to;**

**1998baby, WeasleysGroupie, cupcakesweetheart5, SweetyK, Aaaamber, Grace5231973, arielmermaid, LadyKlaus, rawrdino01, louann97, ApekshaStar, DarknessQueen12, shadowfaxangel, dendragon14, Jen, Tanika, and Alexandra!**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**Megan :)**

**tumblr: personyourparentswarnedyouabout (It's an Ear Hat, John!)  
twitter: NamesNotDorris  
YouTube: MyNamesNotDorris (sherlockian13) **

* * *

"Morning," Klaus muttered, as he stepped into Caroline's office. He ducked his head, and was clearly embarrassed about what had happened the other day. Caroline just smiled, and closed the document she'd been writing on her computer, giving him her full attention.

Already, her room had been put back in order. After she'd talked to Meredith about what happened, some of her colleagues had come in that morning to help Caroline clean up. The table had been turned back up the right way, and the cabinets put back into their respectful places. They'd swept up the glass, and thrown away the broken picture frames. She'd even gone out shopping during her lunch break, to buy some new pictures to hang up.

To be honest, she much preferred it the way it was now. She'd been able to move some things around, and now everything was exactly the way she wanted it. Even the pictures that now hung from the walls were just a lot more . . . her. The room felt even warmer, and safer than it had before. Which was exactly the environment that she wanted to provide for her patients.

Klaus sat at the chair in front of her desk, and Caroline tried not to act surprised. He'd never sat in that chair before. Ever. He'd always be curled up in the chair by the window, not speaking. The speaking itself was taking some time for her to get used to, but now that he'd moved chairs . . . this was the progress she'd been waiting for, for weeks.

"Good morning," she replied brightly, after getting over the initial shock of him switching chairs. Klaus ran his hands through his hair, an apologetic look coming over his face. It was odd, to actually be able to have a conversation with him now. It was exciting and scary all at the same time.

"Look, I . . . I'm sorry, about what happened yesterday . . ." he began, looking up at her sheepishly. She tried not to think about how cute he looked when he was looking up at her through his eyelashes . . . "I don't really know what happened, I just . . . flipped out. I promise I'll make it up to you. I shouldn't have gotten angry . . ."

"Klaus, it's fine." Caroline assured him, and he looked confused. How could she be so forgiving? He'd come _this close _to hurting her yesterday. She could've been badly injured, and yet . . . she didn't seem to mind. "It happens to everyone, and _trust me _when I say I've been through worse. I'm here to help you. What kind of councillor would I be if I just gave up on you after a small incident like that?"

"I guess . . ." he muttered, looking down at the floor again. His hands were in his lap, and he was wringing them nervously. He still felt really bad about what had happened, and he wasn't really sure how to act around her. A few days ago, he could've just sat in his chair again, and continued to stare out the window, pretending not to notice her. But now he had to _talk _to her. He had to talk about what happened, and about his _feelings. _That was the way counselling worked.

"You know I'm going to ask you, so I'll just go ahead and say it . . . what happened?" she asked, leaning forward. She had her notebook out once more, and reached across her desk for a pen. She flipped to the page which held all of her information about Klaus, and tried to look for anything in his face that might suggest anything about what happened. But . . . she saw nothing. His face began to go blank, and he looked as if he were in a trance.

"I . . . I . . ." he whispered, looking down at the floor. Caroline could see that he was dazed. He didn't look like he had any idea of what was going on, and was as if he had forgotten she was in the room all together. His eyes went dark, and she could tell he was thinking about what happened. There was a flicker of something there, something . . . different. But as soon as it had appeared, it vanished just as quickly, and his head snapped up. "I don't remember."

She knew he was lying.

It wasn't even the way that he said it. In fact, he was rather convincing. But she had seen something, just for a second . . . she'd seen him remember. She'd seen him flash back to last night. And she knew that he was lying to her. She just didn't know _why. _He trusted her now . . . didn't he? Everyone had been telling her that he took a while to get to know people, to _fully _trust them. He'd known her for at least two months by now, was that not long enough?

Making sure that he wasn't looking, she took a quick note of her thoughts in her notebook. She wanted him to think that she believed him, so she smiled sympathetically, and nodded. He practically gave a sigh of relief, and leaned back in his chair. She noted this down too. She wanted to collect every last bit of information on this man that she could find out. Because clearly she wasn't going to get any from him.

"What about when your brother and sister came over? What were you talking about?" Caroline asked, deciding to give one last effort. If he wasn't going to cooperate, well, there wasn't much more that she could do. She set her pen down on the paper, and leaned towards him, trying to at least coax _something _out of him.

"Um . . . not much really," he replied, running his fingers through his hair again. There was something about that action that made her nervous, but she tried not to think about it. "We talked about Bekah's boyfriend . . . Elijah's new job . . . we talked about my other siblings too, and what they were doing. They all moved back to England shortly after I was put in here. Finn, Kol . . . and Henrik. They just told me the news . . . Henrik died in hospital. He was gravely ill."

"I'm so sorry," Caroline whispered, her voice suddenly quite croaky.

"It's not your fault." he said, looking off into the distance. "He was only fifteen . . . living with Finn and his wife, Sage. They noticed he was getting sick months ago, and took him to a doctor. They weren't sure what it was at first, he went through several tests. Finn didn't tell anyone because he didn't want to worry them. I guess, what with me in here, they had enough to worry about. But when the tests came back . . . it was bad. Cancer, it was. Pretty fast-acting too. He passed away last week."

"Do you think that's what might have . . ." she asked, thinking maybe she might have gotten to something. Maybe yesterday _hadn't _been about his PTSD. Maybe he'd just been having an emotional reaction to his brother's passing. It was perfectly natural to lash out during a time of grief . . . it would explain a lot, too.

"No." he answered shortly. And he seemed so sure, that Caroline just let it drop. Klaus clearly knew whatever it was that had set him off yesterday, but he clearly didn't want to talk about it. She'd find out soon enough anyway, even if it killed her.

"Okay. Sorry, I just . . . never mind," Caroline apologized again, shuffling some papers around on her desk. She put her pen back, and closed her notebook. That was enough analysis for one day, if Klaus wasn't going to cooperate. However, their session still wasn't over, and they needed something to talk about for the next twenty minutes. "I . . . you've never spoken about your brother before . . . Elijah? I've already met Rebekah . . . what's Elijah like? Tell me about him."

"Oh, um . . . alright then," Klaus looked taken aback, but regained his composure quite quickly. "He's the oldest of all of us, um . . . when he was quite young, my father sent him away to live with some relatives in America. He went to school there, and pretty much grew up there. That's why he has a different accent to the rest of us. He visited us on holidays, but I didn't really know him growing up. It was only when he finished high school, that he went back to England to go to college. That was when I really got to know him.

One of the other reasons he came back after high school, was because of this girl he met. Her name was Katerina, and she was from Bulgaria. They went to school together, and he fell for her instantly. They dated for a few years, and he even brought her back to England with him a few times. But then they just . . . grew apart. He said she'd changed, and that he couldn't do it anymore. He went back to England to get away from her.

But he's quite driven, my brother. He has this dream that, one day, he'll find his true love. He believes that, although he thought Katerina was _the one, _there maybe multiple _ones _out there. And he thinks that, if he looks hard enough, he'll find the second. It's a rather odd philosophy, but it keeps him happy, so . . ."

"How come the three of you ended up back over here then?" Caroline asked, suddenly becoming quite interested in Klaus' stories. It wasn't often that patients were willing to share stories of their lives outside the institute. But Klaus didn't seem at all bothered. It was just the last few months before he was put in the institute that she was having trouble finding out about. As were most people, apparently.

"My mother's death brought us here," Klaus replied simply, and he saw an apologetic look take over Caroline's face. He saw the instant need to apologize, but stepped in before she could. "Don't apologize, please. It's a ridiculous instinct that I never really understood. Why would you apologize for something, if it wasn't your fault in the first place? . . . But yes, my mother died. Back when we were in England. That was when I started to . . . lose myself. Elijah and Rebekah brought me over here, thinking that maybe a fresh start would . . . fix me. Anyway, it didn't, and now I'm here."

"How did she -" Caroline began, but stopped as she saw Klaus turn around to look at the clock.

"I believe that concludes our session." he said abruptly, standing up. He gave her a small nod, before making his way to the door. Caroline knew she shouldn't have tried to ask him that, but she couldn't help herself. She'd gotten so caught up in his stories, that she'd all but forgotten where they were. It wasn't appropriate to ask questions to a patient that they weren't comfortable with, she knew that.

"Good day, Miss Forbes."

* * *

Later that day, Caroline was walking through the institute. It was visiting hours, so she had nothing to do for a while. All of her patients were busy talking to their friends and family, so she planned to go and see Meredith, to discuss their progress. She was still debating whether to tell her about Klaus. About the fact that he was talking to her, and about the things he'd shared. But . . . she didn't think she should. Obviously, it was pretty much necessary for her to tell Meredith everything, but . . . things between her and Klaus felt so . . . personal. She didn't want to ruin that.

And yes, she was fully aware of how stupid that sounded.

It was just . . . she knew he had a hard time getting close to people, and now that he had chosen to get close to her . . . she felt like it was something private, and delicate. The councillor-patient relationship was a fragile one, and one that changed for each individual patient. But whatever was between her and Klaus . . . it was different. It was something _else. _It was personal, fragile, and yet still closed off and extreme. It was so many different things at once, but it was still just between the two of them.

So maybe it was best that she didn't tell Meredith about _that. _Caroline knew that kind of talk could get her fired, and that wasn't something that she particularly liked the sound of.

Walking through the institute, she caught sight of the visitor's room. It was halfway down one of the many cold, colourless hallways. There was a window which looked into the room, and a door with a sign saying "Visitor's Room" in simple, bold writing. The room itself was just as colourless and plain as the rest of the institute. It was painted grey and white, with rows and rows of solid, steel tables that were screwed into the floor. Benches of the same material and design were pulled up to the tables, upon which sat the patients and their family and friends.

All around the edges of the room, stood security guards, waiting for one of the patients to have some sort of outburst. But as Caroline stopped at the window, looking in, everything seemed extremely calm, and controlled. She looked down the hallway, and saw that nobody else was there. She decided that Meredith could wait, as she peered in through the window at the patients.

Several of the patients, she didn't actually recognize. She didn't really know many people inside the institute, just the people on her unit. Of course, she'd been to staff meetings and such, but they never really discussed the patients, unless it was a staff unit meeting. She didn't talk to any of the other staff members either, just Meredith.

However, she could see her patients scattered around the room, chatting to people.

Right at the front, Anna was sat with a rather thin, young looking woman. She had sleek, long black hair, and the exact same eyes as Anna. She was leaning across the table, telling a story very animatedly, as Anna laughed. Caroline could tell from the contact between them and the similarities that the woman had to be Anna's mother. Her file had said that her mother's name was Pearl, but nobody knew who her father was.

A few tables away from Anna, was Jeremy, who was sat talking to Elena and . . . Uncle John? Caroline hadn't seen John for years, probably not since their graduation. Elena had been told a few days after that John was her biological father. Ever since then, she'd wanted nothing to do with him. She hadn't really liked John that much to begin with, and she'd liked him even less after finding out that he abandoned her.

It was clear that Jeremy and Elena were both behaving in quite a hostile manner towards John. Neither of them really liked him, and though Elena was sitting on the same bench as him, she was sitting as far away as she could get. Caroline hadn't really understood where all of their hate towards John had come from. He could be a very kind, and generous most of the time, and he really had put in a lot of effort with Elena. She'd been the one to push him away, though that was perfectly understandable.

On the other side of the room, was Vicki and Matt. It was surprising, how many of her patients she had actually known before all of this. Or at least, how many of them she had known the family of. Then again, Mystic Falls wasn't exactly the biggest of towns, what with there being only one high school. Caroline had never talked to Vicki much at school, but Matt was one of her closest friends. She watched them talk for a while, as Vicki laughed at Matt's clearly lame jokes.

Klaus was sat at a table in the far corner, right at the back. He was leaning over the table, getting as close to the people he was talking to as he could, probably so that no one could hear. There was a piece of paper on the table, which he was scribbling on frantically, pointing things out now and then. The people at the table were nodding, but Caroline couldn't see their faces. They were dressed in full police uniform though, which was enough to alarm her.

Still, Klaus seemed perfectly calm. He seemed to speak to the officers confidently and it was almost as if this wasn't the first time he'd spoken to them. Maybe it wasn't. He stopped scribbling on the paper, and handed it to one of the officers, who folded it up neatly, putting it into his pocket.

Just then, a sharp ringing went off just over Caroline's head, signifying that visiting hours were now over. Everyone stood up to leave, and bid their goodbyes. Anna was hugging her mother tightly, tears forming in her eyes. Pearl stroked her back comfortingly, before whispering something in her ear. Anna smiled and nodded tearfully, as Pearl made her way towards the door.

John and Elena rose up from their seats, as did Jeremy. John went in to give Jeremy a hug, but the teenager offered him a handshake instead. John shrugged, before shaking his hand enthusiastically. He then made his way towards the door, leaving Elena and Jeremy alone for a moment. Elena enveloped her brother in a fierce hug, and Jeremy hugged her back to tightly that Caroline was sure she saw Elena's feet leave the ground. She smiled, and watched as Elena followed John.

Her friend spotted her through the glass, and waved at her quickly, giving her a shy smile. Caroline knew she still felt guilty after everything with Tyler. But really, it didn't matter so much anymore. Caroline waved back, grinning, and watched Elena come through the door. They both knew they couldn't talk here, as visitors had to get out of the institute as quickly as possible, so as not to alarm the other patients. Caroline quickly mouthed "call me", holding up her hand to her ear, in the shape of a phone. Elena nodded and smiled, before disappearing into the crowd.

Matt had already left, and Caroline found her gaze travelling to the back of the room. Klaus was now stood, shaking hands with the two officers. And Caroline found that they both looked . . . _very _familiar. She still couldn't see their faces, but she just _knew _that she'd met them before. She recognized the sandy, clean-cut hair of the taller one. His broad shoulders and rough hands. And she recognized the dark, windswept hair of the smaller one. His shoes that made him look taller than he actually was, and his rather small build.

She squinted at the two of them, trying to work out where she knew them from, as they continued to talk to Klaus. One of the security guards tapped his watch, signalling to them that they had to leave now. The smaller one nodded, and said something that Caroline could tell was probably sarcastic or patronizing in some way. Still, he tapped his colleague on the shoulder, and he nodded.

Klaus bid them goodbye, and as the two officers turned to leave, Caroline realized where she knew them from. The moment they turned, they both froze, as they spotted Caroline looking at them through the glass. And for a moment, everything just froze. Caroline stood there, her mouth hanging open, and her eyes full of confusion. And they stood there, looking like they were two little boys who'd just been caught stealing from the cookie jar.

Damon and Stefan Salvatore.

* * *

The two brothers exchanged a look, before dashing for the door. They made it out of the visitors room, and round the corner, before Caroline came to her senses again. The door to the visitors' room was now closed, and the security guards, patients, families and friends had all gone. She shook her head, and wondered if she'd really just seen what she thought she'd seen. There was only one way to find out.

She rushed after them, around the corner, and followed them to the door of the institute. They were just about to get buzzed out of the building by the receptionist, before she caught up with them. She stopped in her tracks, first making sure that it actually _was _them, before yelling after them.

"And _where _do you think you're going?" she called, and they both froze, still turned towards the door. She saw Damon's shoulders drop as he sighed, annoyed that they'd been caught, clearly. Stefan did nothing, and Damon was the first to turn, a hopeful smirk plastered on his face.

"Well we were just heading out for lunch if you want to join -" he began, but Caroline cut him off. She walked over to them, pulling them both to the side. This wasn't really a conversation to be having in the middle of her workplace. Not where other people could hear, anyway.

"You know what I meant," she rolled her eyes, dropping their arms. Damon crossed his arms, and Stefan looked about them, nervously. "What are you doing here? And why were you talking to Klaus during visiting hours?"

"We're not permitted to tell you that, I'm afraid," Damon replied, pretending to act apologetic, but even Caroline could see the smirk on his face. He was enjoying this, lording his job over her. Normally, she found it quite amusing when he was like this. Just not when it was directed at her.

"And why not? He's _my _patient, I have a right to know!" she yelled, and Damon winced, using his hand to indicate that she lower her tone. She sighed, crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently. She never really was one for controlling her temper, and no one probably knew that better that Damon. He was the person most of her anger was _aimed _at in high school.

"He's helping us with an investigation, but I'm afraid we can't tell you any more than that," Stefan replied, but at least he had the decency to _try _and look apologetic. Still, it didn't make it any better.

"Come on," Damon nudged his brother, turning on his heel. He walked over to the receptionist, asking her to buzz them out of the building. He then made his way to the door, holding it open as he peered over at his brother and friend. "We're gonna be late for lunch."

Stefan gave Caroline one last, apologetic look, before heading after his brother.

She couldn't believe it. She'd been friends with the two of them since _high school, _and now they were keeping secrets from her? She understood that it was their work and everything . . . but surely this concerned her too? She was supposed to know everything about her patients, and if one of them was off, aiding police investigations, then surely she had a right to know?

Whatever it was, clearly it had been going on for a while now. Klaus was so comfortable with the two of them, and Damon and Stefan both seemed to know their way around the institute quite well.

Did Elena know about it? Probably not. Obviously, she would have seen Damon there a few times. They were living together, for God's sakes. Clearly, she'd notice when he was in the room. But she wasn't allowed to talk to him when he was doing his job, those were the rules. Plus, she probably hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary. She might not have even known that it was Klaus, one of Caroline's patients that they were talking to. It wasn't likely that Damon would have discussed it with her either.

But whatever it was that was going on . . . Caroline was going to find out, even if it killed her.

* * *

**Well? Let me know what you thought . . . REVIEW! :D**


	14. Please read, this is important!

**Hey guys.**

**So, I have some bad news.**

**I'm not going to be continuing this story. **

**Before any of you say anything, it's not because I didn't feel it wasn't getting enough reviews, or because of anything anybody said. I will not be continuing for personal reasons, and my disinterest in the plotline. I had the entire story planned out, and every single chapter summarized right up until the end, but I just didn't feel like it was really going anywhere.**

**I'm not going to go into any of the personal reasons, because I think that would be unprofessional, and it's completely irrelevant. All I will say is that I know personal issues shouldn't really come into writing, as it should be an escape from all of those things, but I just completely lost interest. These problems that seemed like they didn't even really matter were just taking over my life, and this story felt like a giant weight on my shoulders. There was so much pressure on me, not just from you guys, but from school, and I just didn't want to disappoint anyone. This just seemed like the easiest option.**

**All I want to do, it just to make sure that you're all aware of this. I feel like I owe it to you, to explain why this had to happen. You've all been so great and supportive, and I just wanted to say thank you. I'm sorry for letting you down.**

**If any of you have any questions that you want to ask me about the plot, please leave them in your review, and I promise to answer them. I know there were a lot of unanswered questions in this fic, so if you want to know anything about that, just ask. I won't post them anywhere, for people that don't want to know. I'll just PM you instead.**

**This story is going to stay up for about two more weeks, just so I can make sure all of you get this message. After that, it will be deleted entirely. **

**I'm not going to stop writing, and in fact I already have some more plans. This story was just too difficult to write, and on a topic that I didn't know enough about, to be honest. **

**You would not believe how sorry I am, and I hope none of you think any differently of me because of this.**

**Megan.**


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